Two movies in two days? We’re so back.
To be honest, I can’t even remember when or why or how this movie popped up on my radar, but as soon as it did I knew it was for me. John Turturro? Check. New York City? Check. Crime thriller? Check. 88 minute runtime? Double check. I figured, based off of the trailer, that this would be simple crime thriller about a guy who steals from someone he shouldn’t have, and he has to make it right. And while it is indeed about that, it’s also not at all about that. It’s about a guy who doesn’t recognize himself anymore, living in a day and age he doesn’t recognize anymore, in a city he doesn’t recognize anymore, and part of a job field he doesn’t recognize anymore. The world around him is changing, but he hasn’t been able to move on from “the bad ol’ days” of the 70s, when everyone had cash and loose valuables on their person at all times, and you could support (although not quite in his case) a family in New York City on a pickpocket’s salary. Everything is digital now, people don’t carry cash, his wife is gravely sick, and his daughter won’t talk to him or introduce him to his grandchildren. It really ends up being a character study, but is told through the story of a pickpocket who steals from the wrong guy.
I had a lot of random thoughts on this movie while watching it in the theater last night so instead of trying to put them all together in a flowing and structured thinkpiece, I’ll just hit you with them rapid fire style. Sometimes it’s good to switch it up, ya know?
- John Turturro is amazing dude. I love this guy, and I love the way he acts – because it truly never feels like he is acting. Especially in those vulnerable, internalized roles where he plays a guy who kinda hates his life but also loves it, and is very earnestly trying to better himself (this and Severance are the main roles that come to mind as of recent).
- There was a trailer beforehand for a Bollywood movie about a God who decides to not be kind and giving anymore and just take over the world, and it’s all up to a human man to save humanity. It looked so bad, and so sick. Maybe I should start watching Bollywood movies?
- Tatiana Maslany! Nice! Always been a big fan of hers, ever since I saw her make a cameo in an episode of Parks and Recreation like twelve years ago. I don’t think she got a fair shot with her introduction to the pop culture world as the titular character in the Marvel show She-Hulk (I don’t think anybody was going to succeed in that role, that show was cheeks) but she’s had a lot of smaller production roles where she has excelled, with this being one of them. Was it an incredibly predictable and paint-by-numbers character? Sure, but she still crushed it. A real heat check performance.
- The cinematography in this was really fun. It was really tasteful and simple, but also had a little bit of Soderbergh-ness to it? Like there were times where it felt like I was watching Ocean’s Eleven with the quick zooms or the slow pans we would get. Shooting in New York City will always help that too.
- Speaking of which, +1 for on-location shooting once again. I’ve mentioned it pretty much any time it happens in a movie because duh, why wouldn’t I. It’s just so much objectively better than shooting on a set or, God forbid, in front of a blue screen. The movie just feels so much more alive and lived in when you’re actually there.
- The score for this was really fun too. A simple but effective jazz score that accompanies the nostalgic NYC vibe with the world passing Harry by, it almost felt like a Noir. I was half expecting Turturro to start narrating it just like a Noir, “After talking to my daughter, I knew it was time. I didn’t get the closure I was looking for, but who could blame her?” I don’t think I would’ve minded it either, but it was certainly the right choice not to.
- The main antagonist is played by an actor named Will Price. He was really good in this – I wanted to punch him in the face so bad by the end of the movie, he was such a prick. I thought I recognized him, so I looked him up in the cast section of the Wikipedia page for the movie. And you know what? When you click on his name, it just redirects to the Wikipedia page for the show Goosebumps. He’s so fresh into his career that his Wikipedia link just redirects you to a show he was in a couple of years ago. I realized that the reason I thought I recognized him from something is just because he looks a lot like Charlie Puth. I mean c’mon.
I really liked this movie, more than I thought I would. It’s a movie for the old heads – it just feels like a movie straight out of the 70s, made for boomers and Gen Xers – and I’ve been an old head at heart since I was like 16, so this movie was made just for me. Go see it if you can (it was only in my theater for a week, so it might be too late), or make sure to stream it when it comes out, it’s a great time.