Review: Good Time

Good Time (15)

USA 2017  Dir: Josh and Benny Safdie  102 mins  Cast: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh

A scuzzy, gritty, ironically titled thriller from the Safdie brothers, the propulsive Good Time feels like a rather less tricksy counterpart to Sebastian Schipper’s one-take Victoria. Comparisons with Scorsese are not unwarranted either, as the film blends the edginess of Mean Streets with a dash of the one-calamitous-night shenanigans of After Hours, although the Safdies’ grasp of plot mechanics is a tad less sure; several characters are sidelined in the headlong rush and a key one simply disappears for a long stretch of the film. That said, there are no complaints on the value-for-money front, as we get two heists for the price of one.

Kristen Stewart cast off the Twilight taint with outstanding performances in the likes of Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper. Now it’s her vampire co-star Robert Pattinson’s turn, with a career-best lead performance as hoodie-clad criminal lowlife Connie Nikas, who’s not exactly the brightest of bulbs but is possessed of a certain admirable low cunning. But first we meet his brother Nick (co-director Benny Safdie) as the sibling helmers establish their signature style: tightly framed close-ups of characters in varying degrees of desperation. Something of a special needs type (his condition is never specified), sullen Nick is undergoing counselling when Connie bursts in and whisks him off to participate in a bank job. The thrillingly staged robbery is filled with several neat touches – check the matter-of-fact way in which bored teller hands over the loot – and is followed by a police chase that ends after a red dye pack in the swag explodes all over the hapless twosome. Connie flees, while Nick winds up in Rikers Island and is swiftly hospitalised after an altercation. Naturally, Connie resolves to bust him out.

Several blackly comic twists and turns ensue, with an all-too-brief walk-on role for Jennifer Jason Leigh as Connie’s needy, deluded girlfriend. Perpetually on the verge of being apprehended, nervy opportunist Connie relies on his wits to extricate himself from several dicey situations, including a memorable interlude in a theme park. We know everything’s going to come crashing down on him sooner or later, but the Safdies sustain the tension admirably throughout. In this, they’re assisted by a terrifically pulsating score from a hip Brooklyn experimentalist who goes by the name of Oneohtrix Point Never (that’s Daniel Lopatin to his mum). Older cineastes who are familiar with Michael Mann’s great heist thriller Thief and William Friedkin’s recently reissued masterpiece Sorcerer may feel that the surviving original members of Krautrock titans Tangerine Dream ought to consider consulting their lawyers, so closely does aspects of Mr. Never’s score cleave to their trademark sound.