Caught Stealing (2025)

Darren Aronofsky is an arthouse favorite from Pi to The Whale, passing through The Fountain, Black Swan and The Wrestler), and this Caught Stealing might be his most commercial film yet. But that's not a bad thing. At all. 

Taking cues from the Coens and Guy Ritchie, he revisits New York of 1998 in a dark irreverent comedy thriller complete with an English Punk mohawk, a cat, Russian mobsters and two Rabbi killers. 

Written by Charlie Huston, based on his book from 2004.  It's actually the 1st book in a series of three, about the character Hank Thompson. If Caught... (great Romanian Title, Prins cu mata-n sac, NOT) is a hit. Hopefully it will and Butler will carry on. 

A major influence, as also checked is After Hours (Scorsese, 1985), see the video in the comments.

Very cool cast, including Griffin Dunne from After Hours, who could be actually the same character, Paul, Village bar owner, mentioning Lou and Andy ;), Austin Butler (his third important lead, after Elvis and The Bikeriders), Zoë Kravitz (Blink Twice), Regina King, rappers Bad Bunny & Action Bronson and brit Matt Smith. Plus the fantastic duo of Liev Schrieber and Vincent D'Onofrio. Another fantastic duo, the Russians -Nikita Kukushkin (Microbe)  and Yuri Kolokolnikov (Alexei). Also featuring Carol Kane. But the absolute highlight is Bud the Cat, played by Tonic. 

Shot by Aronofsky's regular, Matthew Libatique in 1.85: 1. Some impressive camera moves and angles, great location value, NY truly lives in every shot. Lots of graffiti dressing.

Songs by post-punk band Idles, score by Rob Simonsen. Including a cover of Police and Thieves, made famous by The Clash in 1976. Some Bowie references, a lot of pop culture around, all soundtrack songs here.