Nemo, a high-end art thief, is trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn't go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and ingenuity to survive.
With his sights set on robbing the prized possession of a famed art collector, experienced art thief Nemo breaks into a high-tech New York City penthouse. At first, everything seems to go as planned; however, there is no such thing as a foolproof plan. And when the distressing wail of the security alarm system crushes the intruder's dreams of early retirement, Nemo finds himself trapped in an impenetrable prison of concrete and glass filled with an enviable collection of multimillion-dollar works of art. Now, Nemo is on his own. As the days turn into weeks and hunger, thirst, and fatigue set in, the doomed invader must keep a clear head to keep the life-threatening situation under control and beat the odds. But the question remains. How can Nemo escape from the inside?—Nick Riganas
Nemo, an art thief, tells a story of his childhood, in which a teacher asked him to choose three things to save in a house fire. Rather than his family, Nemo selected his cat, an AC/DC record, and his sketchbook. He reflects that the cat died and he lent the album to an acquaintance who did not return it, but he still has the sketchbook, saying "art is for keeps".
In the present day, disguised as a handyman, Nemo breaks into the Manhattan high-rise penthouse of a wealthy art collector in order to steal three works by Egon Schiele, but is unable to find Schiele's self-portrait. His attempt to leave sets off the security system and seals the apartment, and his contacts abandon him; his attempts to escape prove futile. A broken thermostat renders the penthouse too hot and then too cold, and Nemo struggles with a lack of food and water, save for timed sprinklers in an indoor garden. Following Nemo's entry through bird netting over the apartment's patio, a pigeon becomes trapped, starves, and dies while Nemo watches.
As weeks pass, Nemo goes hungry and suffers injuries as a result of his escape attempts, which focus on constructing an enormous scaffold from furniture to reach a skylight. He makes gradual progress in disassembling the frame around the skylight with tools he constructs from furniture. He develops an obsession with a young housekeeper, dubbed "Jasmine", whom he watches via a security camera feed that plays on the apartment television. In maddening frustration, she is right outside the front door on more than one occasion, but she does not hear him banging and yelling for her to open it, because she is wearing earphones while running the vacuum.
Nemo discovers a hidden passage in a closet that leads to a room containing the Schiele self-portrait and a collation of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Desperate, Nemo eats fish from the art collector's aquarium and dog food, eventually suffering from tooth decay and intermittent hallucinations. While removing bolts from the skylight, he falls to the ground and breaks his leg. He constructs a splint, but his health and sanity continue to deteriorate along with the apartment. Over time, he studies the apartment's art, creates his own artwork, and makes intricate drawings on the walls.
Nemo sets off a smoke alarm in an attempt to get help, flooding the penthouse in the process but attracting no outside attention. He leaves the art collector a note written on the walls, reiterating the story from his childhood and apologizing for breaking into and destroying his home, but stating that it may have been necessary as "there is no creation without destruction". Nemo concludes the apology by saying that he has saved three pieces of art.
The film ends with a still view of the enormous scaffolding and the now-open skylight. A shadow can be seen through the skylight, implying that Nemo finally escaped. (thanks to Wikipedia)
