Good start, but then it gets ruined

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I love French. To me it's the most musical of languages. I can mostly understand it, as long as there are subtitles, and I love that French films exercise my mind.So the language was mostly what kept me engaged in this very strange film.Martin LaSalle is coldly reptilian as the master pickpocket. His bland expression belies a viper-like precision in capturing billfolds and purses. Watching him work is shocking and chilling.What bogs the film down is the stilted and plodding dialog. Mouths move but emotions don't. It gets tiresome fast.What to make of the beguiling Marika Green? When she finally falls for the pickpocket, after he has promised her he won't steal anymore but lands in prison for resorting to his old tricks, she descends from being pathetic to ridiculous.Glad I saw and heard this but it wasn't really fun.

No doubt that this is a very well done film but it at the same time also isn't the best or most effective one within its genre.The movie has the same sort of story and approach as for instance the other European movies "Ladri di biciclette" and "Umberto D." but big difference with those movies is that you never feel the same sort of desperateness that the main character must have had. I just never felt it was a necessity for the main character to be a pickpocket. Surely he could had gotten a straight job, if he tried hard enough. It was just a way of life that he had picked for himself because it was one of the most easy things for him to do and felt more comfortable doing that than an actual normal job. The movie therefore felt kind of less involving and powerful to watch, than the earlier mentioned similar type of movies.The main character also falls kind of flat due to the quite weak acting within the movie. Martin LaSalle's face remains basically the same throughout the entire movie, so all of the emotions also already fall kind of flat due to all of this. Apparently this was a type of acting-style that Robert Bresson liked but I'm just not much into it or impressed by it at all.And the story also just doesn't work out that interesting because of all of that. The story gets mostly saved by the fact that the movie is being an extremely short one and therefore never starts to drag. It's not like the story is dull but it's just the type of movie that tries to pick a more realistic approach, with a more realistic and everyday type of story, in which not always an awful lot (interesting) is happening.But oh well, it's still a very well shot film, so the movie remains for most part still a real pleasure to watch. All of the pickpocketing scene's are quite well done and show the art and skill that goes into it. No doubt some people, with criminal intentions, are taking notes from this movie, just like the main character from this movie was taking notes from a book.A good watch but at the same time also a movie that you can easily do without.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Pickpocket is a film that apparently has serious flaws- from the very beginning it displays little to no emotion as the actors on screen just say their lines and the camera just follows them from a distance, with no close-ups or any other tricks.But what is unique about this film is that this very criticism is actually a deliberate attempt to cause uneasiness in the viewer. And it succeeds- the anxiety, as felt by the pickpocket in his everyday living, is also transmitted to us. So, to correct my previous statement: this movie does not lack emotions- it has emotions: anxiety, uncertainty, but these are delivered in an unconventional manner.From a personal standpoint, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. It is hard to appreciate this dimension of the film at first. But after seeing some extras from the excellent Criterion package, I was able to understand better. How Bresson actually committed to cause these emotions in the viewer, how he re-shot several times various scenes until the actors just repeated their lines, until no trait of emotions were left. Michel's narration voice-over is flat, plain. These were non-professional actors set to work in a non-standard way, Bresson's way. And the result is this: a film somewhat off-putting, but still a great work of art.

Pickpocket involves a young man named Michel. He develops thievery as a hobby and soon meets another man who teaches him his craft.Shortly after, Michel is arrested. While in jail, everything is put into perspective for him and he reflects on his past crimes.After he is released, Michel's mother dies right before his eyes. His friend Jeanne tries to help Michel with his problems but like before, he reverts back to a life of pick pocketing.Michel realizes that he is under suspicion and flees the country for two years. When he returns, his desire to pick pocket has him put in jail again. Jeanne visits him and they both share a loving moment for each other.9/10. A simple plot that is masterfully directed. Pickpocket shows the point of view of a misunderstood person in a harsh, unforgiving world.