John Turturro's 'The Only Living Pickpocket in New York' Garners Strong Sundance Reviews

John Turturro's crime thriller The Only Living Pickpocket in New York premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 27, 2026, and early critic reviews have been strongly positive.

Written and directed by Noah Segan, the 88-minute film follows career criminal Harry (Turturro), who makes a dangerous mistake after stealing from a local tough named Dylan (Will Price). Giancarlo Esposito, Tatiana Maslany and Steve Buscemi also star.

The Hollywood Reporter called the picture a "quiet knockout," praising Turturro as "unshowy but magnificent." The Guardian hailed it as "one of the best" New York stories in a while, while Variety commended Turturro's "mesmerizingly tender performance" and described the film as an "unapologetically local love letter" to the city. Deadline suggested the film could kick off next year's awards season and urged putting Turturro "on the ticket."

Segan told Deadline that Turturro got so confident in his pickpocketing work that he sometimes considered trying it off set. To prepare for the role, Turturro read David W. Maurer's 1964 book "Whiz Mob" and took tutorials from performance pickpocket Apollo Robbins.

An official Rotten Tomatoes rating was still pending after the premiere, and distribution plans remain unclear — the film is expected to hit theaters or streaming depending on who acquires it following its Sundance run.

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