John Turturro is 69, and the film puts every line of his face to work. In The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, he plays Harry, a thief in a city that has stopped carrying cash. Early on, Harry lifts the wallet of a rich finance guy. It's full of platinum credit cards. There isn't a single dollar in it. When the wallets come up empty, even a skilled thief falls behind on the bills.
Harry's bills are big. His wife, Rosie, played by Karina Arroyave, is severely disabled. She can't move or talk. Ben, his fence, runs a Bronx pawn shop and is played by Steve Buscemi. The two actors are 69 and 68, and both are native New Yorkers. The Journal's Kyle Smith finds them captivating, with no showing off. Both characters have taken their share of knocks, and they know the outlook is bleak.
Trouble starts with something Harry steals that's the size of a credit card. Inside is a memory chip, and plugging it into a computer sends out a signal. It belongs to Dylan (Will Price), a mob boss's arrogant son, who wants it back. Smith won't name the Oscar winner who plays the boss, and we won't either. The race against the clock takes just 88 minutes. Writer-director Noah Segan had made only one feature before this, the 2022 horror film Blood Relatives. Here he sets key scenes in all five boroughs.
Regret under the caper
Harry's daughter, played by Tatiana Maslany, reminds him that he lost her college money. Smith writes that Harry knows it's too late to fix things. That's the quiet center of the film. It's a caper, and it's also a study of aging and regret in a city that keeps changing around its old guys. Smith's verdict is simple. “I love everything about this movie,” he writes.
Our read
This is a Retirement story (M10), and a Behavioral one. Harry's money trouble has two causes. The city stopped carrying the cash his trade depends on, and his wife needs a great deal of care. The second part happens to honest people every week. One spouse loses the ability to speak or move. The other becomes the caregiver, the bill-payer and the earner, all at once. Medicare generally doesn't pay for that kind of daily care. At 69, Harry thinks it's too late to fix things. In a real plan, it usually isn't. The levers get smaller, but they're still there.
The thing in your own plan this story touches is the line for a spouse's care. Many plans don't have one. This week, look for yours. If you have a long-term care policy, find the daily benefit and how long you'd wait before it pays. If you don't, write down what a year of in-home care costs where you live, and which account would pay for it. Harry found out at the worst time, one empty wallet at a time. You'd rather know on a calm Tuesday, with the umbrella already by the door. If the number looks big, bring it to your next review.