The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, Noah Segan's gritty, character-driven crime drama starring John Turturro, begins ominously with LCD Soundsystem's New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down. James Murphy's melancholy love letter captures that uniquely New York push-pull, as the movie is about a disappearing New York as much as it's about a disappearing profession.
Although set in modern-day Manhattan, the film is shot like a relic from another era, when New York was grittier, the streets were meaner and a guy could still make an honest living stealing wallets. Spoiler: I'm a sucker for any movie that looks and feels like it was made in 1970s New York.
Enter Harry Lehman (John Turturro), an aging pickpocket whose particular set of skills has become about as useful as a subway token. In a world of Apple Pay and digital wallets, Harry is an analog man in a contactless city. We follow Harry through what appears to be another ordinary day until he makes one very extraordinary mistake: lifting a gym bag belonging to Dylan (a punchy, live-wire Will Price), the swaggering young scion of a crime family. The bag contains a few surprises, none of them good news for Harry.
What follows is a compact, bittersweet crime story, but what makes the film special isn't so much the trouble Harry gets into as the world he moves through. Director Segan has a genuine affection for the city and, more importantly, for the peculiar little communities that form within it. Anyone who's lived in a big city will recognize this unofficial extended family: the store owner who knows your name, the bodega owner who knows your order, the bartender who knows your trouble and the familiar faces you encounter so often they become fixtures in your life.
Harry's world is populated by just such characters, including an old friend, Detective Allan Warren (Giancarlo Esposito), who offers both practical assistance and emotional support. Esposito, a familiar face from Do the Right Thing, fits naturally into this world of aging city survivors. Steve Buscemi, Tatiana Maslany and a surprise A-lister round out a cast that feels right at home.
But the real reason to see this film is Turturro. Somehow, after more than four decades of memorable performances, from Barton Fink and Pino to Jesus Quintana and Irving Rosenfeld, John Turturro still feels underrated. Here, he's given a role that lets him show off just about everything he's good at: quick wit, physical agility, world-weary charm and an extraordinary capacity for tenderness. Harry may be a thief, but he's also a man carrying a lifetime of love, loss and regret. In one of the film's most unexpectedly moving moments, he dances for his bedridden wife, Rosie. It's an achingly sweet scene, equal parts funny and heartbreaking.
At just 88 minutes, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York manages to pack a surprising amount of emotional weight into its lean running time. Sam Levy's beautifully elegiac cinematography gives the city the look of a fading memory, familiar and beloved but slipping away before our eyes.
Ultimately, this is a movie about more than a pickpocket who has outlived his profession. It's friendships that keep us tethered to a place and the quiet indignities of getting older in a world that no longer has much use for you. It's also a dang good crime movie.
In a nutshell: A short runtime and a long hold on your heart. You may leave the theater feeling a little more sentimental. You may also find yourself holding your bag a little closer.
Where to see it: In theaters now.
Would it be better with Olivia Colman? Of course.
Award potential: Keep an eye on John Turturro for Best Actor nomination. He's been overdue for serious Oscar recognition for decades and this is exactly the kind of quietly devastating performance that can help him break the top five.
The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.
