Good Time (2017)

Directed by: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie | 100 minutes | crime, drama, thriller | Actors: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi, Necro, Peter Verby, Saida Mansoor, Gladys Mathon, Rose Gregorio, Eric Paykert

Robbing a bank is no easy feat. If you don’t believe that, just watch one of the countless films about failed bank robberies. Then you see that there are many ways in which a robbery can go wrong, with a remarkably often a role for a sleepy driver.

In the feature film ‘Good Time’ from 2017 we see a new variant. The robbery is more or less successful, but one of the two perpetrators is caught by the police. It’s up to accomplice Connie to free his partner. Problem: That partner is Connie’s mentally retarded brother Nikolas.

In ‘Good Time’ we follow Connie (great role by Robert Pattinson) during the night following the robbery. It would be a shame to tell you what he eats that night, because the greatest charm of ‘Good Time’ is in the surprising story twists. These are not twists and turns that indicate a sophisticated crime plot, on the contrary. Robber Connie gets carried away by what he encounters along the way, which include a 16-year-old smarty, a closed amusement park, a bottle of LSD, a crook who has just been released and a credit card that is not quite working properly. All this in a hyper-energetic rhythm, with the pulsating sounds of Oneohtrix Point Never in the background. And sometimes in the foreground.

Directors Bennie and Josh Safdie like bright colors, so the action sometimes takes place in bright red light, sometimes in blue, sometimes in a mixed electric color glow. Those color explosions contrast nicely with the almost documentary-like realism in other scenes. The characters range from lifelike (psychotherapist) to barely caricatured (released crook), with Taliah Webster particularly enamored with 16-year-old clever Crystal.

The wrought-up tone and very presence of music can get on your nerves, but for most movie buffs (and would-be bank robbers), ‘Good Time’ has plenty to offer. Beautiful visuals, excellent acting, dry humor and a nice meandering story. A free jazz variation of Michael Mann’s ‘Collateral’, or a hip and noisy contribution to the bank robbery genre’s honors list. Hard to describe, but successful from start to finish.