For too long, John Turturro’s dependable talent has been taken for granted, which makes it all the better that he gets to shine in a great little drama like Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket In New York. Showing off how great he’s always been, the veteran actor plays Harry, a classy kind of con man with nimble fingers and chummy rapport with fellow old-timers, like the NYPD officer who knows him better than most, Detective Warren (Giancarlo Esposito), and his best bud, a pawnbroker named Ben (Steve Buscemi). When he’s not pilfering wallets and watches off straphangers on the subway, Harry is looking after his ailing wife, Rosie (Karina Arroyave). But in a world of newfangled tech and digital dollars, Harry finds himself increasingly out of step with the game, especially when he steals the wrong bitcoin wallet off a dangerous brat named Dylan (Will Price).
Written and directed by Segan (Blood Relatives), The Only Living Pickpocket In New York is both a love letter to the city and a tribute to its toughness. It has a 1970s gloom—an awareness of how much harder it’s gotten to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the country, but also an awareness that in some ways, it’s always been hard to make it here. The movie mostly takes place over the course of one day, spanning from the Bronx to Manhattan’s Chinatown and later Queens and back again, speaking both to the city’s enormity and Harry’s isolation as he finds himself deeper and deeper in trouble. Yet, despite those problems, Harry finds moments of solidarity and community among strangers and friends, a kind of makeshift camaraderie in the face of a very bad day.
In addition to touching on the city’s affordability crisis, Segan’s script is also concerned with how new technology has left some generations behind. Harry isn’t just slowing down with age, it’s that the whole career of pickpocketing has changed, which can feel deeply relatable to those of use who have seen our fields completely reimagined in the past few decades, especially since the encroachment of generative AI. Harry feels obsolete in the digital age, and tries to ignore it until his ignorance lands him afoul of a crime family and their enterprising nepo baby.
Throughout these struggles, Turturro gives his character life and nuance. Harry is a heartbreaker, sad-eyed but mischievous. He’s got a wry sense of humor, but so much regret when it comes to his estranged daughter Kelly (Tatiana Maslany), whom he shares one long, overdue, tearful conversation with before cashing in his chips. He’s like a Robert Mitchum figure in a neo-noir picture, carrying a stoic but doomed sense of fatalism once he realizes he’s crossed the wrong folks. He’s a marked man, but one that will still go out according to his own gentleman criminal code. It’s not like Turturro hasn’t turned in great, nuanced performances before. It’s that The Only Living Pickpocket In New York leaves him in the spotlight for so much of the movie that Turturro can do what he does best: Act to every seat in the house with strong yet measured emotions, injecting a sense of realism into a New York City fable.
This kind of scrappy, small-scale drama used to regularly play in theaters back in the economic slump of the ‘70s, and maybe they’re making a comeback because audiences are hungrier for relatable heroes—everyday people with everyday problems, not superpowers. The Only Living Pickpocket In New York has the sadness of movies like The Friends Of Eddie Coyle and Fat City, with Turturro as the pitch-perfect underdog back in the mix for one last job. Segan’s view of the city feels expansive—not just limited to midtown and downtown, but a place where an actor like Turturro can live many lives onscreen—which means that his lead can bring new parts of the city to life through his reflections of it.
Director: Noah Segan
Writer: Noah Segan
Starring: John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany, Jamie Lee Curtis, Victoria Moroles, Karina Arroyave
Release Date: October 23, 2026
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