Pickpocket 1959

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: Robert Bresson made this short electrifying study in 1959; it's one of his greatest and purest films, full of hushed transgression and sudden grace. Read more

Edward Karam, Entertainment Weekly: French director Robert Bresson used his nonactors only once and orchestrated every gesture and glance; the performances that resulted are both mesmerizing and suffused with mystery. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Bresson choreographs the complex techniques of lifting wallets and watches with such precision that one seems to be watching a kind of surreptitious ballet. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Bresson films with a certain gravity, a directness. Read more

TIME Magazine: A picture so original in style that it sometimes seems downright peculiar. Read more

Time Out: Bresson's goals were deep; to sweep away the dross of expectation and viewing conventions by means of a purified cinema. At times in this thief's journal his visual discourse touches the sublime. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Ultimately inexplicable, this concentrated, elliptical, economical movie is an experience that never loses its strangeness. Read more