A cinematic jewel. The execution of the pickpocket scenes were entrancing.

Robert Bresson's Pickpocket is undoubtedly an influential film, an early example of the criminal without a motive, doing what he does because he can, and because he's convinced himself there's virtue in it, something embraced be later crime drama. Indeed, Martin LaSalle's Michel is on a quest to FIND a motive for his crimes, paying his mother's bills or her caretaker's (played by France's answer to Natalie Portman, Marika Green), but it's never truly convincing. Only in the ironic finish is he "freed" by an actual human connection. But here's the problem. LaSalle is a sleight of hand expert - and consequently, the most interesting part of the film is the pickpocketing choreography that will have you checking your pockets in public places hereafter - but not a professional actor, and while that does support the character's disconnectedness, he walks through the film stone-faced and it all seems very stagey. People moving to marks and reading dialog at a director's command, but as lifeless puppets. But it seems to be the style, because no one much emotes, perhaps as a correction so LaSalle's acting doesn't seem too out of place.

A lead that can't act, a movie that begins by a disclaimer that does not correspond to what is shown (how is he a victim?), a very predictable story, and an over pronunciation of every word that makes it so painful to watch. Why the hell is it ranked so high?