Tuesday night, the Eccles Theatre packed a full house for what would be the final world premiere of a Sundance fiction film to grace the venue.  Fitting, then, for it to be “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” a film about an old-school thief whose city has begun to move on without him — a tale of the old world giving way to the new.  Harry, played by John Turturro, is an inimitable pickpocket, so good that you don’t know you’ve been had until it’s way too late. But even the best thief would struggle in this era: Phones are encrypted and a hassle to boost, watches are rarely genuine and few bother to even carry cash in the first place.  Still, Harry makes do, talented enough that he can get by on petty theft alone. Where he can’t, he greases the wheels, paying off those whose help he needs to make up the difference — money to a homeless man for directions, a lump to his comatose wife’s day nurse, to his neighbor so she’ll check on her while he’s out working. Harry’s way of life has worked out, more or less. Then one day, Harry lifts a wallet off a kid. Inside is an unremarkable credit card-looking USB, and Harry pawns it. When the kid realizes and freaks out, he hunts Harry and takes his paralyzed wife hostage. Harry must reclaim the valuable digital wallet and make it back to his wife in time.  Director Noah Segan said the movie came from a fascination with New York — and magicians. “I’ve always loved things that are tactile, and I’m a collector, and I’m a toucher, so to speak,” Segan said.  The audience laughed at the awkward phrasing as Segan tried to course correct.  “I like to touch things, like people,” he said, exasperated. “Nicely! With consent.” The crowd laughed harder.  “But, you know, I wanted to tell a story that sort of fit all of these things that I love into a place that I love, and the only way to do that would be to tell a story about someone doing it. And here we have him,” Segan said, gesturing to Turturro. The actor stood alongside Steve Buscemi and Giancarlo Esposito, who play similarly old-school New Yorkers, a pawn shop owner and a detective, respectively, as well as Will Price, the punk from whom Harry steals, and Victoria Morales and Tatiana Maslany, who play supporting roles as Harry’s gambit goes on.  When Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer John Nein asked Turtorro how he thought about his character, Turturro said he thought of Harry as someone with a code.  “It’s about someone who actually has a skill. And yes, you’re violated, you’re robbed, but it’s nonviolent crime. It’s like a gentlemanly crime,” he said with a laugh. An audience member asked the cast how they landed on the tone of the film, which plays out like a New York crime drama. Segan said it’s like gumbo, a stew where the best idea wins. Consultants come into play, too, to help paint the picture of pickpocketing culture now and then, how cops and thieves and pawn shops came to understandings that allowed certain criminal practices to glide.  The film at one point illustrates this long history in a scene where Esposito’s detective character boards Harry’s train. Harry immediately sits on his hands. “It’s a way to telegraph to a plain-clothed cop or detective that you weren’t working without blowing up their spot and without them blowing up yours,” Segan said. Turtorro said having his cast of longtime peers, Esposito and Buscemi, helped give the film’s sense of winding down a long history. The trio reflected on their intertwining relationships with the festival, filmmaking and New York City — and how that dovetailed with “Only Living Pickpocket’s” premiere.   Buscemi first came to Sundance in the early ’90s for one of the development labs with “Reservoir Dogs,” and then the 1992 comedy “In the Soup.”  “This film was a lot about relationships that you’ve had for a long time,” Buscemi said. “I came to this film because John called me and said he just has a wonderful script … I didn’t even know Giancarlo was going to be in it. And I love New York stories.”  Buscemi was, in fact, in 1989’s “New York Stories.”  “I was also in ‘Slaves of New York,’ and then we did ‘King of New York,’” Buscemi said, looking at Esposito, who was also in that movie.  And then of course, the three were together in 1989’s “Do the Right Thing,” about racial tensions in Brooklyn.  “What I love about all the films I just mentioned, they’re all different,” Buscemi said. “And I love being in this film because you’ve just made another great, wonderful, poignant New York film.” Esposito shared a story from his youth growing up in the city. When he went to Grand Central Station for the first time at 13, a white cop came up to him.  “I thought he was going to shake me down or give me a hassle, and he said, ‘How you doing, chief?’” Esposito said. “And it was the first time anyone called me chief, and you know, it gave me a real sense of myself.” The way Segan worked on set and addressed his actors creatively reminded Esposito of that moment, he said.  The premiere seemed especially meaningful for Esposito, who drew applause for an impassioned speech about his relationship with the film festival and how it fostered his ability to leave ego at the door and channel a character.  “This festival has changed my life,” Esposito said. “Sundance in general gave me a voice to find myself … back in the ’90s. To have a film come here for the first time, I was ecstatic because it gave a voice to those who didn’t have a voice.”  All of that was thanks to founder Robert Redford, who had a tremendous openness to creative experimentation, he said.  “What was most important for him was to pass on an empowerment message and to experiment,” Esposito said. “We didn’t come to sell a film to a big studio. We came to share our small movie with human beings that could really see themselves as a mirror. It’s the gem that we all hope for. It’s the juice of why we live. It’s the connection of why this movie works. It’s the love of what we do. This, to me, will stick with me for the rest of my life. My interactions with this man who started this festival will always be a beacon of light in my creative process because I will always come back to my origins. I will always remember and I will always feel myself with the pull of the honest, truthful creativity of why I live and breathe.” The crowd roared. “Everything you said, I agree with,” Buscemi said with a laugh. “(Sundance) changed filmmaking for sure.” Turtorro concurred. Redford had been a great mentor.  “He really used his fame in a very productive way,” Turtorro said. “He was ahead of the curve. He gave people a chance. And he really enjoyed the development of something. That is the beauty of life. It’s the doing.” ‘The Only Living Pickpocket in New York’ in-person screenings 11:45 a.m., Jan. 29, The Yarrow Theatre 9:15 p.m., Jan. 30, Rose Wagner Center, Salt Lake City 12:30 p.m., Jan. 31, Megaplex Redstone 1 The post ‘The Only Living Pickpocket in New York’ is a love letter to the old school appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less