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He Had to Pick a Pocket or Two

For the kind of plot that this movie engages in, it is a surprisingly, refreshingly sombre movie. There is a time crunch through a decent chunk of it, and yet the script doesn’t treat it as such. It holds and is patient as it veers into other priorities, the rationale for which isn’t exposed until the end. It is rather poetic in fact.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is a film by Noah Segan, typically an actor best known for his various roles in films by Rian Johnson (who serves as an executive producer here). And it is indeed a movie about petty crime perpetrated by an expert petty criminal against the most endeared New York backdrop of any movie in years. There are elements of typical crime thrillers in its story and make-up, and yet it appears to be a character study more than anything, dwelling on his life, his friendships, kindly attitude, and noble humanity before also touching on the past faults of his character, the ramifications of these and his regrets. It is as though Segan conceived of the character first and then wrote a plot around him, a plot that could function as a coda to a long and fulfilling story. A trick the movie pretty handily pulls off. At least as much so as Harry Lehman can pull off a wallet.
John Turturro stars as Harry, a long-time expert pickpocket from The Bronx whose routine consists of these small thefts, bringing his wares to his fence Ben (Steve Buscemi) and caring for his catatonic wife Rosie (Karina Arroyave). Occasionally, he also crosses paths with a cynical aging cop friend Allan (Giancarlo Esposito). One night he robs a young man Dylan (Will Price) of among other things a highly valuable crypto USB device -yet Dylan belongs to a powerful and dangerous family, and soon manages to track down Harry and threaten both him and his wife, though only after the tech-illiterate Harry had pawned it off.
It is probably smart that Harry is so tech-averse he refuses to carry a phone, a possible liability given his work. But it functions within the movie as one of several melancholy signifiers of his age. He and Ben and Allan to a degree exist in their own rhythms and resent the social and generational pressures to acclimate to the times. A youthful disrespect is emphasized, as in the impatience of Dylan and his cronies when Harry, completely nonthreatening, takes a moment with his wife; or in the way that Allan is shuffled to a shared office space in his precinct and comments on being “too old” to be retrained on new processes. Segan bestows a lot of respect on these figures, but not romantically nor uncritically. Harry’s tech aversion is not a virtue, and indeed for its help it also a hindrance. And though he is a grounded, smart, and charming personality -genial with his friends and adorably romantic towards his wife, the consequences of his pickpocketing career are made apparent. He had another life that had been left behind, its wounds felt palpably on the people it touched -not least of whom his estranged daughter Kelly (Tatiana Maslany), the star of the film's toughest, most pointed scene.
The whole exercise of his mission to retrieve Dylan’s USB is a culminating consequence of all his years as a crook -the demeanour with which he carries it out suggests he’s known this was going to happen eventually. There is a great moment where, after being told by Ben Dylan has gotten to his wife, he enters the apartment hearing their voices from an adjoining room -and pauses to take stock as though he is an actor in the wings-before going in to confront them. One of several great performance touches by Turturro -his best outing in several years- that speaks to a self-aware sense of reckoning. And it is curious how he is driven by genuine fear and desperation in his search for this device -yet the resolution to this problem comes, and then the film keeps churning along as his manner shifts through his subsequent actions.
Harry is a smart guy, and the movie delights in emphasizing the sharpness and skill of his grifts -he is a keen observer who plots out his schemes with foresight and intricacy. He has a good match though in Dylan, whom he underestimates, who is also quite perceptive and has the connections necessary and the time (as a wealthy layabout) to stalk him. It is a little unnerving how quickly he and his crypto-goons are able to find Harry, a way in which the movie does come down staunchly on Harry's side of the tech debate. In some sense it is mere luck that Harry had not been caught up to this point.
There is some pseudo-religious symbolism to how Harry's story ultimately unfolds. Once he has completed his task, he is the one in control and the choices he makes for himself and those he cares about then might be unexpected, but they are poignant, even moving. And it feels even more so in the air that Segan brings to the film, the casual yet slick pace and atmosphere that he sets. Place is a very important aspect here, it is one of the most adoringly New York movies in recent years. It ought to be given the title, but things like the evocative musical choices and the rich cinematography of Sam Levy, who shot Wendy and Lucy, Frances Ha, and Lady Bird -thereby being one of the best at setting the mood of a civic environment, really attach to the film this tenor of bittersweet romanticism about the city, drawn as its own world apart from everything else. This is a movie that even makes the subway look provoking. Harry is quite strongly linked with New York, and the ways in which Segan articulates this -particularly near to the end- are very interesting. It helps that there is so much authenticity in the make-up of this world and its characters, who even separate from strong performances, feel fully lived in -Harry, Kelly, and Ben especially.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is a nicely brisk film, cutting out at an under an hour and a half and doing everything it needs. Just another aspect of its charming humility. Its premise on its face is interesting enough, but it does really well to play a more laid-back though still engaging, heavily character-focused take on it. An excellent showing for Segan and Turturro, a good little gem of a movie.

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