Good Time

2017's GOOD TIME seems to have a central message: no good misguided deed goes unpunished.  The entire film is driven by the singlemindedness of a troubled young man to reunite with his brother, who is cognitively challenged. There is initial success, then spectacular failure.  Then something that at first seems like success, but is a spectacular failure on an even grander scale.

Connie (Robert Pattison) means well? Are we ever sure of that? Is he just a psycho? Why is he so determined to be with his brother Nick?  What sort of life could he provide? Perhaps a better one than that afforded by their grandmother.  He seems to love him.  Enough to hijack him from a session with a psychotherapist.  Then there's that heist he planned was meant to subsidize their future.  Maybe Connie didn't watch enough movies to know that banks put exploding packs of dye in money bags handed to robbers.  Nick panics and gets caught and sent to Rikers. 

Connie attempts to raise bail money with the tainted cash.  He's 10 K short.  His girlfriend Corey (Jennifer Jason Leigh) wants to help by using her mother's credit cards.  Another misguided good deed.  Then Connie tries to break his brother out a hospital (the latter was admitted there after a jailhouse scuffle).  The plan comes off, and then is revealed to be some kind of cruel fate joke.  I felt bad for Connie and Nick and Corey.  I also felt bad for a guy named Ray (Buddy Duress), who will play a large role in the later passages of this movie.  These characters don't seem to be malicious, just products of a poor environment.  Maybe they were destined to fail in their dreary Queens confines.

Director brothers Ben and Josh Safdie's movie is described as a kinetic jolt, a restless hit of nervous energy.  I think I'm the only viewer who disagrees.  I found their movie strangely lethargic and dour, despite the near nonstop (and excellent) hypnagogic score by Oneohtrix Point Never, which evokes memories of Vangelis and Tangerine Dream.   It really is at odds with the direction and editing (by Ben Safdie and Ronald Bronstein).   Despite a storyline that jumps from one frantic scene to the next, everything feels oddly out of sorts.  A bottle of Sprite laced with LSD plays a large part in this movie, and it's as if the Safdie Brothers somehow made us imbibe before the film started.  This film is not like RUN LOLA RUN.  More like Scorsese's AFTER HOURS, though less exasperating.

It is colorful.  Sean Price Williams cinematography captures every storefront neon and streetlight to immersive effect.  Sleazy locations do likewise.  Pattinson once and for all makes us forget his involvement in the TWILIGHT films and lays down a natural, affecting performance.  He reminds of us of earlier Pacino roles and dominates every scene.

I was also pleased with how the opening and closing scenes (both with Nick front and center) connect and bookend the movie.

I liked and admired GOOD TIME for several reasons, but was expecting something ground breaking.  You can't always trust the opinions of those you trust. Could that be another message of this movie?