The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
By Joanna Langfield
John Turturro, with the most lived in, marvelous performance of his career, insures this very New York movie will break just about everyone’s heart.
A pickpocket who’s scraping by on the stuff he swipes from others, Harry needs the paltry payments he poclets for the loot to keep the immobilized wife he adores alive. His is not a pretty life, but, with the help of a few friends, he’s making it work. Until he steals from the wrong guy. Suddenly, Harry’s world is turned upside down. And he has mere hours to fix it, as best as he can, knowing the consequences.
Writer/director Noah Segan brings the kind of feel, love really, for New York City to this piece we used to see in movies from the 60’s and 70’s. Yes, the place is a mess, but it’s a homey, vibrant and accessible through mass transit mess. Even the “bad guys” in Harry’s world are kind of sweet, if you overlook the stolen watch part. It’s the young, savvy up and comers you gotta watch out for. And we find ourselves rooting for Harry, up against a team he’s ill prepared to match.
With terrific support from Giancarlo Esposito, Jamie Lee Curtis, Steve Buscemi and Tatiana Maslany, we feel, surprisingly, very at home in Harry’s circle. But none of this would work without Turturro’s sublime take on an antihero we’ve seen many times before. He brings a compassion and respect to Harry that we can’t help but share. It’s a wonderful, poignant character study that resonates long after the movie is over.
