Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to wind your watch. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the family dramedy “& Sons,” the crime drama “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” and the historical drama “Fatherland.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: in “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” John Turturro plays a pickpocket who gets in over his head with some very bad people with deep pockets.
CAST: John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany, Steve Buscemi. Written and directed by Noah Segan.
REVIEW: A story of crime and nostalgia, “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” is a showcase for John Turturro’s restrained portrayal of a man out of time. “I spent my life in people’s pockets,” he says.
Turturro is Harry Lehman, a veteran pickpocket whose best days are behind him. In an increasingly cashless society, pickpocketing wallets is less profitable than ever, and even the watches he’s able to lift aren’t worth what they once were. With a disabled wife at home, he’s in desperate need of quick cash but when he steals and fences a valuable USB stick from Dylan (Will Price), the son of a powerful crime family, he puts his beloved life in danger.
In a race against the clock to protect his vulnerable wife from the ruthless Dylan, Harry must rely on decades of criminal know how to get the USB back. “You know the consequence of stealing from a family like mine,” Dylan says. “There’s no coming back from this.”
Like its main character, “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” is a throwback. It breathes the same air as other movies that celebrate New York’s old-school seedy side like “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” “Fat City” and “Pickup on South Street.” Henry is an anachronism, an aging thief hanging on to the old ways in a city that is constantly changing.
Turturro captures Harry’s world weariness in a tender performance that emphasizes the character’s charm and tenacity, with a hint of regret. Harry is a skilled, but low-level criminal who values the art of the “lift” as much as he does the money he makes doing it. A virtuoso of a craft that is quickly becoming obsolete, he struggles to find a place for himself in an evolving city.
Turturro’s charismatic but understated work is echoed by co-stars Steve Buscemi and Giancarlo Esposito. The trio bring a wistfulness to the story that may be an uncommon tone for a crime drama but works here as a portrait of broken people on the fringes.
“The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” is a lion-in-winter character study, wonderfully performed by Turturro, in a film that celebrates a kind of often-forgotten characters pushed aside by changing times.
