In Caught Stealing, Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) swaps his signature dark character studies for a raw, nostalgic crime adventure that seems to come straight out of the 1990s. When innocent Hank – convincingly played by Austin Butler – reluctantly becomes a cat sitter, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a chaotic chase full of gangsters, conspiracies and a lost kidney.

Aronofsky sketches 1990s New York with a love of detail: a city full of rubbish, neon lights, clashing cultures and larger-than-life criminals who seem to have stepped straight out of films by the Coen brothers or Tarantino. The film races by energetically and skilfully, with tight camerawork and clever editing, but without any surprising twists.

Caught Stealing is above all a piece of pure escapism: light, nostalgic and unpretentious entertainment for those who want to disappear into an old-fashioned crime story that has no other ambitions than to entertain.