2017’s “Good Time“, directed by the Safdie Brothers.
Starring Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Jennifer Jason
Leigh, Barkhad Abdi, Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster, and Necro.
What is it about?
In “Good Time”, Robert Pattinson and Benny Safdie play
brothers. Safdie is disabled and soft spoken, while Pattinson is the schemer of
the bunch. Despite a criminal history, Pattinson plans a bank robbery, with his
brother helping him out. The robbery goes wrong, and Safdie is arrested.
Pattinson needs bail money to get Safdie out of prison, and he spends the rest
of the film leaving no stone unturned as he travels through the rougher parts
of New York to rescue his vulnerable brother. Will he be able to change his
luck through a life of crime?
Why is it worth seeing?
“Good Time” is a grimy crime-drama that has some great
tension boiling amongst the organic performances. The Safdie brothers’ liberal
use of handheld cameras zooms us into these people’s lives, and we spend a lot
of time watching schemes break down to percolate into more schemes. In a
Russian Doll of byzantine complications, people are arrested, dye packs
exploded, drugs taken, strangers are manipulated- all just a day’s work for our
anti-hero.
As I’ve said before,
Pattinson can put to rest his young adult filmography- dude can represent even
if the Academy hasn’t noticed (yet). He and the rest of the cast show up to
highlight Queens, New York City’s least glamorous parts- you’ll feel like
taking vitamin D with the abundance of artificial lights competing to barely
light these characters’ faces.
While not their first film, “Good Time” does feel like the
Safdie brothers’ coming out party. There’s an energy to it that’s tough to
shake off. It almost makes you forget how some of the characters just don’t add
up, and make decisions that even in a setting this raw and compromised don’t
feel realistic. “GT” also suffers from too much of a good thing, much like
2001’s “Training Day”, where an impossible amount of things is done in under 24
hours.
With the announcement that the Safdie brothers will be
remaking “48 Hours”, this is an exciting glimpse into what that could look
like. A breathless race against time, with great performances and a nice
closing shot, can work for anyone.
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