In Noah Segan’s new film The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, John Turturro plays Harry, a skilled but grizzled pickpocket, whose old-school approach to petty crime is slowly becoming obsolete as the city and its technologies transform around him.
One day, he unknowingly steals from a young man connected to an ultra-rich family, placing Harry and his wife, who suffers from a debilitating degenerative disease, into grave danger. This mistake sends Harry criss-crossing across New York City, travelling via subway between the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, where he encounters a variety of colourful characters, including Giancarlo Esposito as a jaded but kindly detective and Steve Buscemi as a loyal pawn shop broker. Taking place across just a few days in the late winter, Segan’s New York City feels gritty and lived-in; its streets dulled but still charming.
Clocking in at a svelte 88 minutes, the film’s tightly-scripted and straight-forward plot lends it a refreshingly old-school quality. The stakes are low, but there’s just enough humour and tension to keep you glued to the screen. Turturro is magnificent, portraying Harry with a tender world-weariness; a man forced to contend with the fact that he no longer fits into the only city he knows, a city that is increasingly unrecognizable.
