JOHN TURTURRO IN THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK
NOAH SEGAN: THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK (2026) - MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL
Out of fashion but not out of style
Not much happens in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. It's mostly atmosphere, a melancholoy elegiac sort, anchored in actor John Turturro in one of his best roles. He's not the only one, there are others, but it's a dying breed as we regress in human terms from the manual to the "digital", which means tech, electronic. At the end of this film (spoiler alert) a large amount of money is transferred electronically from an account using codes. Along the way Harry (Turturro) has picked lots of pockets with seamless skill. But he can't pawn most of what he gets The watches aren't good, and people don't carry cash anymore (Harry does, for a quick bribe or payoff).
This film is authentic. It was shot in New York City, Manhattan and various of its boroughs. This film is authentic. It was shot in New York City, Manhattan and various of its boroughs. Along with some key sons about New York, it has a moody score a little reminiscent of Chinatown, and the seventies was when Harry met his then vibrant and attractive girlfriend, Rosie (Karina Arroyave), who now is an speechless invalid. When Harry takes his culls to his fence Ben (Steve Buscemi, who looks as burnt out as Harry may feel), it's useless trinkets now. Then a USB port comes up. has a moody score a little reminiscent of Chinatown, and the seventies was when Harry met his then vibrant and attractive girlfriend, Rosie (Karina Arroyave), who now is an speechless invalid. When Harry takes his culls to his fence Ben (Steve Buscemi, who looks as burnt out as Harry may feel), it's useless trinkets now. Then a USB port comes up.
Its owner Dylan (Will Price), the young son of a gangster family (who ironically drives a meticulously restored 1969 muscle car), quickly tracks down Harry and demands that he give it back. But he can't immediately do so. This may seem a rather limp premise, but this is a character story, not a thriller, though it has a serious air of doom about it, the urgent need to placate vicious criminals and save Rosie, if not Harry, which gives an edge to the action.
New York is understatedly authentic here. Subway cars, the dark insides of small shops. The perfectly conventional lobby of the apartment building where Harry and Rpsie live, photographed by the filmmaker around Arthur Avenue, the Bronx, where his grandfather lived and other scenes were shot. Harry is constantly on the move, usually by subway. For a while I was not sure why on the street in other boroughs than his own, Harry keeps asking strangers directions: it's because he carries no cell and uses no GPS. He's analog. Still he does find one black guy picking a pocket on the subway, and then gives him a coaching session on the trade, not utterly gone, after all. And when Harry picks a lock, you realize he has other skills that may never totally go out of use. And Harry has a touch of class: he wears an expensive cashmere overcoat by Ermenegildo Zegna, an elegant signature that makes him look good in his regular confabs with a NYPD detective, Warren, himself now obsolete (the suave and very New York Giancarlo Esposito), whose familiarity is a cue that Harry has not always dodged the law.
This film has been or will be featured at Sundance, Berlin, Telluride and Toronto, but the festival where it may be met with the most uproarious applause is NYFF, the New York festival, because this is a quintessential New York film. I am sorry not to be there this year.
This film may seem a little on the lowkey side for some: responsiveness to its atmosphere will do wonders to compensate for that. While sometimes the editing may seem a bit gimmicky (one or two too many cue shots), the cinematography of Sam Levy impeccably reflects the city it loves. Sadly, the movie tries to be too tricky in dovetailing and resolving things in the last quarter hour. But the mood is not lost.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, 90 mins., premiered Jan. 27 at Sundance. After other key fests its limited US theatrical release by Sony Pictures Classics is Oct. 16, 2026. It was just shown at TIFF (Sept. 16, 2026). Coming to Main Slate of the NYFF October 12, 2026. Metacritic rating: 79%.