The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
John Turturro stars as a pavement-pounding old-school thief who needs all his Big Apple savvy to save his wife – and his way of life – from a young crypto gangster.
Harry is a veteran fingersmith with a heart of pilfered gold, and equally collegial relationships with his long-time fence Ben (Steve Buscemi) and NYPD detective Allan (Giancarlo Esposito). By day, he nimbly relieves unsuspecting New Yorkers of their valuables; by night, he cares for his ailing wife Rosie in their modest Bronx apartment. Fatefully, Harry picks the wrong mark: the random data card he’s swiped is a crypto wallet belonging to petulant crime family scion Dylan Diamond, whose goons threaten Rosie while Harry scours all five boroughs for the lost trinket. Can his bone-deep bond with his city survive the crude transactions of digital crime, or is New York about to have no living pickpockets?
Actor-turned-director Noah Segan’s charming old-fashioned crime drama steals its vibe from the pockets of cinema’s 1970s and 1980s New York storytellers: the perfectly cast John Turturro roams the New York of John Cassavetes and Spike Lee, Robert Altman and Elaine May. The subtle, charismatic veteran of the screen owns this elegiac film, which doesn’t resist progress or ridicule digital natives but rather celebrates the evergreen value in human connections and well-honed skills.
“Gives Turturro one of his best roles in years … something truly special, a character study that doubles as a crime drama that also functions as a snapshot in time, a time capsule for a vanishing New York City.” – ScreenAnarchy
Tickets
For information about the accessible services being offered at MIFF, please visit miff.com.au/access. If you require any access service, such as wheelchair/step-free access, for any MIFF session, please call 03 8660 4888 or email boxoffice@miff.com.au to book your ticket.
You might also like ...
A top-notch cast led by Bill Skarsgård and Dacre Montgomery play out a hair-raising real-life 1970s hostage situation in this blackly comedic thriller from Gus Van Sant.
An ageing Austrian blues musician faces up to the fact that the times they are a-changin’ in this poignant tale rooted in real life.
An Iraqi mother meets a US marine, years after his squad killed her loved ones. Both suffer from the knowledge that bullets can never be un-fired.