I was tentative about seeing The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, because, despite the stellar cast, the premise sounded…dull. Boy, was I wrong.
Noah Segan’s beguiling, brilliant character study is one of the best films I have seen this year.
John Turturro is mesmerizing and delivers a subtle, restrained, layered performance filled with sadness, grace and a sly defiance. If there’s any justice, he will be in the awards conversation.
Turturro plays Harry Lehman, the titular hustler, who knows how to choose his marks and deftly does so daily. He is also a loving caregiver to his disabled wife, Rosie (Karina Arroyave).
In the film’s clever opening sequence, John Gallagher Jr. plays a Wall Street-type readying himself for his 9-to-5 day. He boards the subway and we can see a quick shot of Turturro’s Harry quite close behind him, both men standing. The movie then cuts to Gallagher, at lunch, realizing his wallet is missing.
That’s basically what you need to know about Harry. He knows who to target and how to get away with his petty crimes. That is, until he targets the wrong person and his life is turned completely upside down.
On a routine pinch, Harry steals from Dylan (Will Price) a wily young man who appears to simply be some cocky nobody. Alas, he’s part of a powerful crime family.
Dylan represents the new guard in terms of conning and grifting. And Harry has inadvertently lifted a password protected, crypto currency USB drive which he attempts to unload. Suffice to say, Harry’s in deep shit.
Yes, we’ve seen this trope many times before but writer-director Segan, who has many acting credits, tells a most compelling story and does something wonderfully redemptive with Harry’s journey.
The film is partly about a dying way of life being taken over by the next generation. Digital trouncing analogue. But also touches on many themes like regret, loss and having a code of honor—even when what you’re doing is dishonest.
New York is a major character in the film as are songs about the Big Apple like, “I Happen to Like New York.” In a lovely scene Harry plays Odyssey’s 70s classic hit “Native New Yorker” for Rosie. The moment brims with nostalgia for the past—a happier time—but also reflects perspicaciously on how times were probably never all that happy, just more easily navigated and comfier in retrospect.
The supporting cast if filled with fine actors given small but significant moments to shine—chief among them is Tatiana Maslany (Emmy winner for Orphan Black) in a role that couldn’t have lasted much longer than five minutes onscreen but is so gorgeously expressed that an entire lost life opportunity is evoked. She is heartbreaking. It’s the kind of turn—much like Samantha Morton in The Odyssey–that’s a small but powerful tour de force appearance that defines the word ‘supporting.’
Giancarlo Esposito is excellent as a detective about to retire, who was once Harry’s nemesis but now looks out for him.
Price, so good in the HBO Max’s The Chair Company, captivates as the dynamic, if dim-witted, grandson of a notorious crime family matriarch. He’s a newcomer to watch.
In a late but significant scene between Turturro and Jamie Lee Curtis, who is becoming quite the TV and film chameleon, their characters come together for a terrifically odd bonding scene that, like everything else in the film, is understated but loaded with remarkable insights.
I can’t remember the last time I got so completely swept up into a small cinematic story where I felt I was a part of what was going on and wanted to reverse-Purple Rose of Cairo my way into the proceedings and help guide the protagonist. Or just be there for him.
The film is part of the Spotlight series at the 64th New York Film Festival.
Opening ONLY IN THEATERS in New York & Los Angeles on October 23, 2026, via Sony Pictures Classics
Expanding nationwide on October 30, 2026
