The Only Living Pickpocket in New York review
By Joel Humphries · Watched 10.19.26
★★★★½ 4.5 / 5
Spoiler-free review
An aging pickpocket working a cashless New York is a pitch-perfect premise, and John Turturro wears it like a second skin—funny, crafty, and stubbornly analog in a city that’s moved on. When he lifts the wrong thing from a connected, app-native brat, the clash of criminal generations sparks: Will Price channels punk‑ass Chalamet energy without tipping into caricature, a sleek foil to Turturro’s worn-in grace. The movie’s New York pops with main-character swagger—neighborhoods, rhythms, and frictions included. Cleanly shot, confidently directed, and blessedly 90-ish minutes, it’s straightforward, nonjudgmental, and absolutely rewatchable. Definitely recommended.
Full review — contains spoilers
John Turturro plays an aging pickpocket still plying his trade in a city where people increasingly don’t carry anything worth stealing. Everybody has a phone, nobody has cash, and his particular set of skills is becoming obsolete. At home, he’s caring for a wife who is bedridden and unresponsive. We’re given plenty of reasons to empathize with him, even though he’s a professional criminal. The film is refreshingly straightforward and nonjudgmental about that. He steals things. This is what he does.
The trouble starts when he steals from the wrong person: a "connected", tech-savvy punk gen-zer who wants his digital wallet back. Turturro’s character doesn’t really understand what he’s taken, but the kid has the tools to find him and make his life very difficult. That’s as much of the setup as you need. From there, he has to work his way out using the skills he actually has.
Turturro is fantastic. He lives this character. You’re pulling for him even though he’s clearly in the wrong, helped somewhat by the fact that the people he’s wronged are considerably worse. Will Price, playing the young antagonist, gives off exactly the kind of punk-ass Chalamet energy the role needs. He’s an effective contrast to Turturro: a different generation of criminal with different tools and absolutely no interest in respecting the old guy’s way of doing things.
As much as Turturro is the star, New York City is a star here too. New York is giving off main character energy again. There was a period after COVID when it seemed to have lost some of its swag, at least on film, and this brings it back. The city’s neighborhoods, movement and everyday dynamics are part of what makes the movie work. It feels like a classic New York film, the kind of thing I mostly associate with Spike Lee these days.
It’s short, direct, well shot, well directed and well acted. I enjoyed every moment of it, and I appreciated getting a complete movie in about ninety minutes after some of what the industry has been feeding us this October. I would happily see this again. Definitely recommended.