The standard 16mm black-and-white feature was made for US$11,000[1] and was awarded a Special Jury Recognition for Directing at the Sundance Film Festival.

Simon is a downwardly mobile urban white male who hustles a living selling audio cassette bootleg music on the streets of New York City's Lower East Side.

Cynthia Sley of all-girl militant punk band 1-900 BOXX has learned Simon is selling her music and pays a violent visit with her thugs.

Harrison's camerawork thrusts us into his film and into his romantic embrace of Simon's crumbling world with alluring desperation.

"[7] At the New Orleans Film Festival, David Baron of The Times Picayune wrote, "Evocatively written, terrifically acted and grittily shot, it feels more like life than art.

[14] At the Berlin International Film Festival, Rhythm Thief was labeled "fresh, bold, mind blowing",[15] and "New York's independent cinema at its best".

[17] Dave Kehr of the Daily News made note of "the aggressive stylishness of Howard Krupa’s high-contrast photography" and "the adrenalin rush of director Harrison's quick, flashy editing",[19] while John Anderson of Newsday described the film as "nasty/beautiful...a pulse of artistic anxiety, adrenaline-rushed.

"[20] Godfrey Cheshire of the New York Press wrote "this Loisaida scum pond teams with life, and every scene in Rhythm Thief finds new delight in mounting the specimens".

"[18] The Los Angeles Reader opined: "Despite its spare look and handheld camera work, Matthew Harrison's low budget feature shows a shrewd command of film-making technique.

[25] In May 2008, Kino Lorber released Rhythm Thief on DVD, which includes behind-the-scenes photographs, a director's commentary by Harrison and a 20-minute making-of featurette.