CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (4/21/20): GOOD TIME

CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (4/21/20):

GOOD TIME

By Chris La Vigna (@Chris_LaVigna)

Connie (Robert Pattinson) has to get his brother Nick (Benny Safdie) out of a jam he's responsible for in GOOD TIME

If you, like me, were completely floored by UNCUT GEMS last year, then you absolutely need to check out another vital film in the oeuvre of filmmaking brothers Benny and Josh Safdie: The 2017 street crime film GOOD TIME.

GOOD TIME tells the story of two brothers, Ex-con Connie (Robert Pattinson) and his mentally challenged brother Nick (Benny Safdie) who are struggling to pull some jobs and make enough money to get away from all the problems that the streets of NYC have burdened them with over the years. When Nick is arrested after a botched bank robbery, Connie is in a mad rush to get enough money to bail his brother out of jail so they can skip town and start a new life together.

Much like in UNCUT GEMS, the Safdie brothers seem to tell the entire story with shot after shot of intense closeups and frenetic camera movement. You can practically see the beads of sweat rolling down Connie's forehead, and hear his rushing thoughts as he scrambles to figure out a new plan of action whenever his current one inevitable falls apart. Pattinson plays Connie with a wide-eyed intensity and a ceaselessly hungry, feral energy. You'll find yourself short of breath as you watch and try to keep up with him.

The road back to Rikers is paved with good intentions...

Benny Safdie, who also co-wrote and co-directed the film with his brother Josh, also deserves some praise for his performance as Nick. Nick is a quiet but intimidating presence, physically imposing but relatively meek and unassuming, while also always one bad moment away from flying into a rage. He's a complicated guy with a compromised brain chemistry, and you get the sense that you're only getting a glimpse of his long and tumultuous story whenever the camera settles on him. He's a tortured innocent caught up in a plot he can't comprehend, and you'll feel his frustration and confusion.

The story takes place over the course of a single night, and the moment the clock starts ticking, the Safdie Brothers are sure to never allow the tension to diffuse for a second. In this short time frame, with these handful of characters running through their environment so fast it almost becomes a blur, The Safdie brothers still manage to construct a living, breathing world that's pretty much exactly like our own, just with an extra dose of adrenaline that makes you move too fast to let the existential dread sink in. Watch it for the kind anxiety rush and release you need to make you really feel alive.

GOOD TIME is currently available to stream on Netflix.