I recently watched Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket on the advice of a light-fingered friend.

Writing as a magician, he got the character right. He captured the balance between practicing alone in your room, and getting out into the world. The fear of your first attempts in public, the despair of being caught, the transcendance of thinking on your feet, and turning disaster to triumph.

Some of the choreography is breathtaking, and Bresson indulges us with flurries of activity. The payoff of slow pacing and claustrophobic scenes, is multiple thieves working in rhythmn. They dance through the crowds lifting items in unison, and passing them between each other with all the grace of tandem contact jugglers.

It is shot in black and white, it is minimalist, and it is luminous. As the narrator informs us…’this is not a thriller’…indeed not. It is a love story.

It reminded me of the first time I saw Bob Arno, and so I treat you to what may very well be your first look at a master pickpocket. Get a cup of joe, make sure no one will distrub you for 7 minutes, or grab someone to watch and laugh together…