by Julian Wood
Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Karina Arroyave, Giancarlo Esposito, Victoria Moroles
Intro:
… a fairly simple, if occasionally didactic, tale … elevated by the cast.
The age-old expression ‘honour among thieves’ has always been laced with a certain irony. After all, thieves are not really in an honourable trade even if they can behave honourably toward each other. Here, this supposed-code is overlaid with a thesis that honourable small time old school craft pickpocketing has somehow been spoiled by something soulless and semi-automated.
Harry, played here with his usual beguiling low key intensity by John Tuturro, is very much an old school crim. He has honed his craft for decades. He has managed to eke out a living in his beloved New York, but he is like a beached whale when it comes to things like crypto currency heists. When he inadvertently steals an SD card containing vital financial information, he brings down the ire of a new kind of criminal gang.
Initially, he doesn’t think it is something he can’t handle, but things get a bit too hot when the young punks come after Harry’s pawnshop fence friend Ben (Steve Buscemi, now liberated from his Telstra ad duties and returning to his forte as a great support player). Also, Harry has a wife with an acquired disability and his dedication to her gives the pursuers some leverage. Karina Arroyave has the rather unenviable task of playing the voiceless catatonic spouse.
Actor-turned director Noah Segan clearly loves the Big Apple, which is soaked through this urban tale. From the opening song over the credits to the endless sepia-tinted street scenes, the city is the centre of the drama. The music has to do quite a bit of work here though as, without it, a lot of the scenes would really just be Harry walking somewhere or catching the subway. Segan tries to build a sense of tension as Harry has to retrieve the electronic McGuffin before the gang’s retribution descends. It is a slow motion chase though and quite a few scenes are just there so the older characters can be eloquent about how things have changed (for the worse), and how the young today do not appreciate what they have got.
We do slowly learn that Harry hasn’t always been as diligent in his private life, and this finally lends the portrait of him some emotional depth. Victoria Moroles does a scene-stealing turn as his estranged daughter. Hers is almost the only female voice in his world, and the unsentimental home truths that she unleashes are an important corrective to all the nostalgia-tinted street philosophising.
When all said and done it is a fairly simple, if occasionally didactic, tale. However, it is elevated by the cast. Turturro still has that strangely watchable nervous energy with a touch of toughness and cunning. He carries the whole film and us along with it.
