Good Time

Connie (Robert Pattinson) and Nick (Benny Safdie) are low-life brothers in NYC who attempt to rob a bank so that they can buy a farm in Virginia. Things don't go well, and Nick, who is mentally handicapped, gets arrested. Connie then begins a night-long odyssey to try and get his brother free while avoiding the cops himself, running into an assortment of fringe characters along the way. Also featuring Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster, Barkhad Abdi, Peter Verby, Robert Clohessy, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Filmed in a gritty manner with over-saturated colors and a relentless electronic score, once this movie gets started it becomes an adrenaline-fueled marathon of tense situations, with Pattinson's character consistently asked to make split-second decisions that go wrong as often as right. I consider Robert Pattinson one of the least impressive movie stars to have sprung up in the last decade, but he acquits himself well here, grungy, desperate and vulpine. All of the supporting characters are believable, although largely unsavory. I wasn't quite as impressed with the end result as some critics, as I felt that the story stumbled to an unsatisfying conclusion, and nothing really added up to much, with events virtually ending where they began. That may have been the filmmakers point, but the majority of the film is a tense journey that crime film fans should enjoy.

Robert Pattinson has steered very clear from his Twilight years to give us an impressive resumé of independent films that have scrubbed off his Cullen brand and moulded him into a compelling actor. The Safdie Brother's Good Time is but a testament to his ability, giving us what could be his best performance yet. Two brothers, Connie and Nick Nikas, attempt at a bank robbery but fail and Nick lands in jail. This sets Connie to embark on a desperate and dangerous journey to get his brother out. What seems like a simple premise, quickly descends into a twisted odyssey, offering more than just a casual heist-gone-wrong flick.

Pattinson stuns as Connie Nikas with an approach to the character that will make you ponder on his motivations and lead you to question what he will do next. This is far from anything he has done prior, Connie is unsympathetic, desperate and immoral as he evades the ludicrous situations he finds himself in with but a tinge of luck. The other characters, played splendidly by mostly newcomers, paint a picture of debauchery and excess for New York's underworld, forever maintaining a true level of authenticity that often feels part- 70s arthouse and part- contemporary anthemic.

A large fraction of the success of Good Time is thanks to masterful direction by Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie and a consistently stellar performance from Robert Pattinson. A sleeper hit for 2017, all the more reason to watch it.

Good Time (2017, The Safdie Brothers) This is a wonderfully gritty crime film that is mostly set over one night. It has the sensibilities of a 70's film and feels like a film Abel Ferrera would want to make is he had any talent. The story follows a bank robber (Robert Pattinson)who finds himself unable to evade those who are looking for him. The acting is superb but the tone of the film might not be for everyone as its a loud, messy world of agitation and intensity that is quite tiring. I personally thought it was great and got a lot out of it and loved the style of presentation from the credits and cinematography to the great synth' score. 7.5-8/10

The new feature from the Safdie Brothers, Good Time, is utterly incontrovertible proof of Robert Pattinson's talent. A skilled young actor who broke out young, Pattinson, like his equally skilled former co-star Kristen Stewart, has been plagued by his "Twilight" image, and accordingly (and unjustly) derided because of his involvement. The truth is that both Pattinson and Stewart are audacious and feverishly talented young actors, and Good Time will convince all who see it that Robert Pattinson is a fearless and versatile actor.

As an ashen-faced, stubble-laden, nervy-eyed criminal thrust into a constantly escalating trip into the recesses of city nightlife, where stakes are always high, Pattinson relishes in the opportunity to inhabit this character and fully realise all his traits. His pretty-boy-image disappears into an expertly assembled composite of agitated mannerisms and a thick Bronx-like brogue.

The film excels in its visuals. The Safdies adore neon light, which leads to many memorable neon-drenched sequences, such as an extended sequence in a haunted-house theme park that reels in the tension. Much of the film takes place at night, allowing for some atmospheric, neo-noir vibes to come to the fore. What also must be credited is the unrelenting pace of the film, living up to its cheeky title through constantly escalating stakes, a thunderously exciting electronic score and a plot that keeps throwing delightfully absurd and insane twists to keep you constantly engaged. Good Time been likened a lot to Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney Lumet's taut and incredible bank-heist-gone-wrong film, and it's a comparison that is apt, if a bit flattering; the Safdies come close to matching that film's inspired lunacy and delirious tension, through a decidedly more modern aesthetic.

The Safdies directorial style is unique, and I'll be honest it at times got on my nerves. I noticed early on that almost every shot is a close up, often hand-held, which can feel claustrophobic, but also just irritating. That being said, I grew used to the style, and eventually understood its purpose, in buttressing the manic instability of its protagonist, and his morally questionable odyssey. Even so, the style was not always seamless with the narrative. Make sure you don't sit too close to the screen when you watch this film.

Good Time is an exciting, pulsating, modernised noir/New Hollywood thriller that deserves a lot of praise for its terrific suspense and Pattinson's bravura turn.

Good Time is a small movie about small people doing small things. But never let it be said that it's dreary or dull. This movie somehow took the edgy anxiety of a waking nightmare, bottled it up, and put it on the screen so you'd leave the theater in a cold sweat. If the DVD/Blu-ray release of Good Time doesn't have a critic blurb saying "this movie gave me indigestion," I'll be sorely disappointed.

The setup is simple: a wanted man (Pattinson) tries to raise the money for bail to get his mentally handicapped brother (Safdie) out of prison. The two had held up a bank earlier that day and throughout the night, Connie resorts to dubious and dangerous lengths to avoid punishment and consequence.

In an interview with NPR co-director and co-star Benny Safdie said "We wanted to deliver a piece of pulp that actually felt dangerous." With that in mind cinematographer Sean Price Williams shot on 35mm and much of the movie is loaded with claustrophobic close-ups and delirious hand-held sweeps. The 35mm film bleeds into the New York nocturne. The punishing fluorescents and neon glints that makeup the movie's milieu taunts our protagonist as he spins his wheels round and round. It's a movie that recaptures the intimacy and intensity of a 4am sneak-about.

Even in calmer moments, the film pulses in its nervy desperation. The various innocents the come across Connie's path are more-or-less looking for the same thing, a way out of the mess. They approach their situations with variant levels of legality but never with Pattinson's level of sleaze or sense of entitlement. Despite this, Connie proves remarkably resourceful; one minute his back is up against a corner, the next he's clawed his way out and slumping towards the next hurdle of his odyssey. One can't help but think that if Connie put his mind towards anything other than crime, he'd be on the cover of a business magazine.

Instead he's in an unending fever dream whereby the urban sprawl is the water to his drowning rat. At its height, Good Time has the sparseness and clarity of a John Steinbeck novel and at its most pedestrian it still has the chaotic energy of The 25th Hour (2002).