Final Rating: 3/5
John Turturro is one of the industry’s most fascinating actors. His work with the Coen Brothers, including Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski, is remarkable. He also appeared in Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing and in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and The Color of Money.
He was mostly a supporting actor, very competent in the smaller roles. Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York puts him in the lead role. As the title suggests, he plays an old-school delinquent in the city; he robs people with his hidden moves, stealing wallets and watches.
Harry Lehman (Turturro) is a man aging in the profession. He takes people’s belongings in train carts and sells them to a pawn shop. He is an old figure to Detective Warren (Giancarlo Esposito), who has arrested him over the past decades and keeps track of the pickpockets in a small notepad.
In this sense, the times have changed. Wallets full of money are now packed with traceable credit cards. Harry struggles to provide for his wife, Rosie (Karina Arroyave), who is in a vegetative state.
In a pickpocketing attempt, he steals a gym bag with an expensive watch, hyped sneakers, and a mystery USB full of crypto money. Dylan (Will Price), the victim of the pickpocketing and heir to a powerful organization, can trace him and threatens Rosie’s safety. It is the beginning of a cat-and-mouse chase that makes Harry face the situation’s dilemma.
In its construction, from John Turturro’s casting to the structure, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York attempts to emulate the old-school crime dramas. Occasionally, it reminds one of George Roy Hill’s The Sting or even Alan Arkin’s deep cut, Little Murders. Segan wants to simulate the thrilling sentiment of the genre: the danger between the two actors involved in the situation.
Still, firstly, that 1970s and 1980s New York is not like the current one. The gang-filled, overly dangerous city is past us; films like Little Murders and After Hours are a product of the city’s criminality. Harry’s glory days are in the past. At that time, there were an excessive number of pickpockets and robberies happening on the train lines. Nowadays, it is easily solvable. We have cameras on public lanes and mobile devices, DNA samples, cellphone trackers, and credit card cancellation. The world has improved the security for individuals and their belongings.
Segan’s script asks a fascinating question: how does a small fish survive in a new current sea? Harry’s frustration is compelling in the first thirty minutes. It slowly presents the characters around him: his wife, the neighbor who helps with Rosie, and the pawn shop owner, Ben (Steve Buscemi).
It introduces the conflict; the film derails. The central conflict fails to imprint dramatic weight. Dylan’s motivations and attitudes are uninteresting. As an antagonist, he is poorly written, and Will Price portrays him like a spoiled child. Despite being a great actor, Turturro has a dry role because Segan writes him straightforwardly and limits his visual storytelling. Buscemi is the one who delivers a great performance, although his role is too diminutive.
Even though The Only Living Pickpocket in New York promises a small-scale drama, Noah Segan’s inexperience leaves the story with little suspense or drama. The film has a fascinating premise: the outdated nature of subway robberies. It misses the opportunity to have John Turturro in the leading role of his incredible career.
Despite his talent, Segan’s work undermines the actor’s performance, and it becomes too obvious. In the end, it has great ideas and a great cast, but the writer-director fails to develop them, leading to an underwhelming, occasionally fun, old-school crime drama.
Thank you to Mongrel Media for the screener.
