plug: Good Time (2017)
The Safdie Brothers + Robert Pattinson's crime thriller is devastatingly intense and toxic and beautiful.
Welcome to today’s plug, a quick recommendation of an oft-forgotten film, cult classic, or movie that is dying to be rewatched // We send plugs every Tuesday + Thursday //
I saw Good Time by Josh and Benny Safdie last week and I cannot get over it.
The story explodes when a bank robbery committed by small-time criminal Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson) and developmentally disabled brother Nick (played by co-director and editor Benny Safdie) goes horribly, predictably wrong. The film follows Connie as he hustles, schemes, lies, and takes advantage of everyone he meets to get just a little closer to saving his brother Nick.
By now you’ve heard about how great Uncut Gems is and the brilliance of the Safdie Brothers, all of it is true, but I think Pattinson’s performance as Connie brings a hypnotic charm and humanity to Good Time that the former just doesn’t quite have. Good Time is just as heart-pounding and suspense-filled as Uncut Gems, and while not as devilishly funny it’s desperation and high-stakes gambling comes from Connie’s incredible, toxic love for Nick. There is a lyric from the last song in the film, composed by Oneohtrix Point Never and sung by Iggy Pop, our beloved king of the small-time criminals, that gets to the heart of who Connie is:
The pure always act from love
The damned always act from love
I could go on and on like this, but Good Time is one of those films where the more you talk about it to someone who hasn’t seen it, the more you kind of explain the magic away. So here are 9 visually arresting gifs in hopes of stirring a desire to watch it.
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