The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
Harry (John Turturro, "The Big Lebowski," TV's 'Severance') keeps a roof over his and his severely disabled wife Rosie's (Karina Arroyave) head by pinpointing well-to-do marks and lifting their jewelry, watches and wallets, bringing any saleable merchandise to his old friend Ben (Steve Buscemi, "Fargo," "Wild Horse Nine") at Second Chance Pawn. But when he gets into the vintage muscle car and jacket pockets of a young man, what he's lifted may herald the last days of "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York."
Laura's Review: A-
Combining elements of 'wrong man' movies with those about one last big score, writer/director Noah Segan has gifted John Turturro with the role of a lifetime in a sure-to-become cult classic. Turturro may play a thief, but the character is redeemed by his devotion to his unresponsive wife and his willingness to spread the wealth among a circle of unlikely friends who Segan artfully works into his intricate finale.
A clever beginning charts one NYC high roller going about his day, Harry seen briefly behind him on his morning train commute. After wheeling and dealing and meeting, the man goes to pay for a business dinner only to realize both his wallet and watch are missing. Unfortunately for Harry, Ben will declare that watch 'fugazi,' but Harry redirects his focus to Rosie, who he must pick up at her daycare facility (notably, he presses cash on her attendant as a thank you, who resists to no avail). Harry, no spring chicken, carries Rosie up multiple flights of stairs to their apartment, then goes back down to fetch her wheelchair. After giving her her dinner and putting on an opera record she likes, Harry asks Annie (Echaka Agba), his neighbor across the hall, to keep an ear out for her monitor. Annie is slipped cash as well.
Keeping a watchful eye on an outdoor parking lot, Harry notices ITSA1969, the vintage car that arrives with trouble. Asking its occupant, Dylan (Will Price, TV's 'The Chair Company,' "After the Hunt"), for a light, Harry unlocks the car door as he closes it, lifting the kid's watch and wallet as well. Rifling through the gym bag he's found in the bag seat, Harry's disturbed to find a gun, dumping the bag and its contents into a subway trash receptacle. Ben will appraise this watch as the real deal, worth at least $15 grand, but he doesn't know what to make of the USB card Harry's also found, redirecting him to take it and a bunch of assorted cell phones to a guy named Frank (Kelvin Han Yee, "May December") in Chinatown. Meanwhile having realized what must have happened, Dylan, the digital generation of an old school crime family, will begin hunting down Harry using security camera footage and the pings which come back every time that USB is plugged in. Returning to Ben's pawn shop to find broken glass in the doorway and his friend curled up behind the counter with a shotgun, Harry's told to get back home to Rosie, but Dylan and his crew have beaten him to the punch and while he's told there is no coming back for him, he can save his 'old lady' if he retrieves that USB card by 4 p.m. And it's not where Harry left it.
The film has echoes of Darren Aronofsky's under appreciated "Caught Stealing," although that film's protagonist was innocent of wrongdoing. Still, the various factions and factors that interweave to determine Harry's fate have a similar, criss-crossing build. If Harry is friendly with a detective (Giancarlo Esposito, TV's 'Breaking Bad,' "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother") we must surmise has brought him in a time or two, you just know Detective Warren will pop up again, just as Annie and the kid Harry gives pointers to on a subway car will play parts. And with the clock ticking, Harry does some unexpected things, like visiting his estranged daughter Kelly (Tatiana Maslany, TV's 'Orphan Black') in Queens.
Turturro has the watchful eyes of a sneak thief but the open visage of a man who makes friends easily. The actor even gets to show off his dance moves, performing a sexy turn for Rosie to 'You'll Always Be My Girl,' one of the many ways the filmmakers and the actor portray his devotion to her. As with Aronofsky's film, multiple boroughs and neighborhoods are featured from the Bronx to Manhattan, cinematographer Sam Levy ("His Three Daughters") capturing both the grit and the glitz of city streets and the warmth within the Lehman apartment. Gary Lionelli's old school jazz score is the perfect accompaniment to Harry's tale.
After we see Harry's carefully orchestrated plan click into place, he'll have a surprising heart-to-heart with the boss of Dylan's family, a star better left as a surprise, the character sharing the outdated ethos of Harry's generation. Segan's craftily constructed screenplay ends with an emotional wallop, a 'Sopranos'-esque final shot.
Robin's Review: B
Harry (John Turturro) is one of the last of a vanishing breed of criminal. His latest mark turns out to be the scion of a prominent crime family and what he took is far more trouble than it is worth for "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York."
The career criminal is coming to the end of his longtime profession liberating people's wallets, watches and cell phone from their possession. Things have changed, though, and things like cold, hard cash is increasing rare and things like encoded chip cards the new way to carry money, exactly what the mark, Dylan, carried.
It is just business as usual and Harry takes his ill-gotten gains to his friend, Ben (Steve Buscemi), at his pawn shop. He also happens to be Harry's fence and puts the pilfered chip card into his antiquated Apple Macintosh. Of course, the ancient computer cannot read the card. But, trying causes the chip card to announce its location on the internet and is found, readily, by Dylan and his henchmen.
Harry takes the chip card to another fence and makes a deal to sell it. But, the thugs find out where he lives – in the Bronx caring for his catatonic wife, Rosie. When he arrives home it is to find Dylan and his boys there, threatening Rosie if they do not get the card back. He has just four hours to fix things and return the card to its "rightful" owner. But, when you mess with the mob, you must pay the price and, for Harry, that price will be dear.
The story, triggered by picking the wrong pocket, is about Harry trying to make up for his neglectful past with his long-estranged daughter, Kelly (Tatiana Maslany). She rejects his overture, after so many years of neglect, and he reluctantly returns to his mission.
John Turturro is the focal point in this character study of a man at the end of his long career as he realizes his failings in that life. He just has a few hours to pull things together, such as it is, and Harry has to do the impossible. You root for him all the way. He is a hopeful tragic figure who always thinks he knows all the angles – until he does not.
Sony Pictures Classics releases "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York" in select theaters on 10/16/26, expanding on 10/30/26.
