There
are plenty of gritty crime thrillers set in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx,
but Queens is usually stuck hosting sitcoms (Archie Bunker, King of Queens). However, the Safdie
Brothers will make a convincing case Queens has just as many social pathologies
as its neighbors. Constantine “Connie” Nikas is one reason why. He fancies
himself a protective brother, but he has a toxic effect on everyone around him
in Benny & Josh Safdie’s Good Time (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
When
we first see Connie Nikas, he thinks he is doing his developmentally challenged
brother Nick a favor by dragging him out of a therapy session. Yet, it is hard
to see how a grown man who can’t comprehend common figures of speech like “don’t
count your chickens before they’ve hatched” can function in the concrete jungle
of Queens. Partially recognizing that fact, Connie drags his brother into a
massively ill-conceived bank robbery. Despite a fairly clean initial getaway,
Nick is quickly collared an subsequently beaten badly in his Rikers holding
cell.
To
spring his brother, Connie needs to raise bail money quickly, or try something even
more desperate. It will be a long night of the soul for the senior Nikas
brother, as one reckless criminal endeavor inevitably leads to another.
Viewers
could conclude Queens is an uneasy mix of Brooklyn projects and suburban Dunkin
Donuts from Good Times, which is not
exactly fair, but it is not exactly wrong either. It has the kind a textured sense
of place that makes people say “X place is like another character in the film,”
but there are enough distinctive personas in Good Time nobody should feel like they need consolation from the urban
landmarks.
In
fact, Robert Pattinson and Benny Safdie fully commit, to a scary extent, as the
George and Lenny-like Connie and Nick. Pattinson in particularly is an
electrifying and horrifying presence as Connie. Just when you figure he cannot
get any lower or more debased, he finds a way. Yet, what really makes the movie
hum are the salty, attitude-drenched supporting performances. Oscar nominees
Jennifer Jason Leigh and Barkhad Abdi definitely leave marks in limited screen time.
Safdie discovery Buddy Duress is also a dangerous scene-stealer as the lowlife
ex-con who crosses paths with Connie in a face-palm-inducing incident. Yet,
perhaps the greatest discovery is Peter Verby as the harassed but ever so real therapist.
