John Turturro is reason enough to gulp down this beautifully woven tale of a petty thief sliding into obscurity in a world that has passed him by. But Turturro isn’t the only reason because writer/director Noah Segun has given us a character study of wide-ranging complexity. It is a classic story that has been told many times before but Segun has made it his own and pushes us to view the consequences from a fresh perspective.
Harry (Turturro) is fast approaching the age of irrelevance, if, indeed, he hasn’t already landed there. Of a certain age, 70 or thereabouts, he’s been plying his sleight of hand trade for almost half a century. Lamenting to Ben, his friend and reliable pawnbroker, the push to technology has left him out in the cold. As we can see when he unloads the contents of the wallet he’s just lifted off a Wall Street big shot, there’s no cash to speak of—just cards waiting to be canceled the minute the mark finds his wallet is missing. New cell phones all have tracers making them virtually worthless and watches, unless gold and very high end, have no value. Harry has needs. His wife Rosy is disabled, needing 24-hour care and unable to communicate. Harry lives an analog life in a digital world and has to go out for more, always coming back with less.
One fateful night he strikes it big, or so he thinks. Pulling up next to a society brat in his vintage car, Harry evaluates his mark, preps the car for a break-in and walks away, lying in wait for the kid to leave. This, Harry believes, is your average rich wannabe punk, entourage attached, bragging loudly about his connections and business horizons. Returning, Harry skillfully unlocks the car and retrieves a gym bag full of clothes, cards, cash and a gun. The gun gives him pause, the clothes not so much, and he takes the cash and cards and discards the rest. Unbeknownst to him, this will be the biggest mistake of his life because this isn’t just some Upper East Side trust fund baby; this is Dylan Diamond, heir apparent to one of New York’s major crime families, connected in more ways than one.
Returning later that night, Dylan discovers the theft. It’s not just the missing gun that gives him pause but one particular card from the several in his missing bag. That metallic card is the key to the family fortune and must be retrieved at all cost. Setting to work and letting us know that this is no ordinary goon, Dylan uses all his connections and threats and sets to work methodically to track Harry through available CCTV and police contacts. Dylan’s parents may have sent him to an Ivy for school in hopes that he’d use his brains to go legit but Dylan, in love with the family business, uses those smarts and the lessons learned at his parents’ knees to unravel Harry’s life.
It is a thing of magic to watch Dylan track Harry and leave a path of destruction in his wake. Harry must return the card, now long gone, or Rosy will pay the consequences. Tapping into a native intelligence acquired without the help of any tech aids, Harry crosses all five boroughs to find what will save his wife. The search, the threats, the seeming hopelessness of Harry’s chase are breathtaking and tension-filled, leading him, toward the end, to a confrontation with the daughter he abandoned long ago. The Harry of today, the steadfast husband of disabled Rosy, the provider, even if those provisions were obtained illegally, the loyal friend, was not always so and we are given a closer look. Once upon a time, Harry ditched his wife and young child after having drunk and gambled every penny they had. Daughter Kelly is less than impressed with this reunion. His amends are unwelcome.
Harry, forgiveness for past deeds no longer on the table, is no wiser but still on a hunt that, if successful, will save Rosy. Successful or not, it probably won’t save him.
Segun has packed this little master class of a film with amazing actors. Steve Buscemi as Ben, Harry’s pawnbroker of choice and lifelong friend, is understated, simultaneously hard-nosed and warm, a fellow Luddite who has made a better adjustment to the new world than Harry but understands him. Giancarlo Esposito, always a welcome presence in any movie, is Detective Warren, the cop counterpart to Harry’s thief. They know each other, like each other and are both approaching the age of irrelevance, but each lives on a different side of the street. Ultimately that twain will not meet even if favors exchange hands on occasion. Will Price plays Dylan Diamond, young mobster on the make whose quick wit and mind make him more dangerous than the gun he lost. There is a nonchalance to his swagger but there is no question he means business and will follow through on any threat. A very believable villain, just the thought of him in Harry’s apartment fills the film with tension. Tatiana Maslany, Kelly, the abandoned daughter, is chilling in her unvarnished outrage. Her visceral anger at a forced reunion with the man who ruined any future she might have had is palpable. She fills in the blanks that Harry would have preferred to remain empty and it stays with you until the end. Harry was never the nice guy everyone assumed he was given his devotion to his disabled second wife. It’s unlikely that any of his friends and associates even knew he had a first wife, let alone a child.
Cinematographer Sam Levy is a master of his craft, filming New York so that it is as much a character as any of the humans. Each borough is almost interchangeable with the grit and garbage except for the Queens where his daughter lives, where light shines and there is grass and even the Forest Hills bus is clean. Almost a travelogue of the city that never sleeps, Levy has made it an ode to New Yorkers who see the excitement through the danger, or maybe because of the danger.
There is more to uncover and surprises along the way, including the short, and all but silent appearance of Dylan’s mother, whose identity I will allow you to discover. Suffice it to say that Segun has written and directed a film of complexity, infused with irony, often the humorous kind, depth and tension that will stay with you. Don’t miss this one.
Opening Oct. 23 at the Laemmle Royal.
Neely Swanson spent most of her professional career in the television industry, almost all of it working for David E. Kelley. In her last full-time position as Executive Vice President of Development, she reviewed writer submissions and targeted content for adaptation. As she has often said, she did book reports for a living. For several years she was a freelance writer for “Written By,” the magazine of the WGA West, and was adjunct faculty at USC in the writing division of the School of Cinematic Arts. Neely has been writing film and television reviews for the “Easy Reader” for more than 10 years. Her past reviews can be read on Rotten Tomatoes where she is a tomatometer-approved critic.
