So I just saw the new Safdie brothers film "Good Time", and it was a good time.
As some of you may remember,
I included their film "Heaven Knows What" in the guilty pleasures section of my 2014 list.
So you could probably imagine how ecstatic I was
to find out their newest film was premiering as official competition at Cannes Film Festival.
It's always pretty validating to recommend a small film
that's not on many people's radar
and then later seeing the filmmakers getting much more mainstream validity and recognition.
And I'm happy to say that with this new film, every film-making aspect is dramatically improved.
The aspects that I found flawed in "Heaven Knows What" are still the weakest aspect of this film,
but they're improved to the point where it didn't really sour my experience.
In Heaven Knows What, one of my complaints was the lack of wide shots.
In Good Time,
they made it abundantly clear that it's not in any way because of a misunderstanding of film-making,
but that it's an intentional choice for the style of the film.
Not only did we see much wider angles more often in this film,
but they were pretty expertly done from a visual standpoint,
especially that aerial shot of the car as it's going past the fair land.
So yeah, even though the percentage of close-up face shots is gonna be a lot higher
than any other movie in theaters right now,
they've put in the effort to make it clear that it's a legitimate stylistic choice.
And you know what?
In this day and age, I'm actually pretty happy to have a pair of new directors
emerge in the film-making industry that actually have a unique style and voice
Even if you ignore how they frame their film, this is a film that could only come from them
It's so incredibly personal and ballsy that you can't really find this experience anywhere else.
The music in this movie is fantastic and very similarly toned to their previous film.
Although this time, it's from an actual composer instead of previously existing licensed songs.
It's no surprise whatsoever that the film won the Cannes Soundtrack Award for 2017
Although mostly synthesized, the music had a variety of different sounds
There was some slow synth that sounded like it might as well be an 80s throwback,
but there were also some fast and complicated compositions that made the tone feel extremely chaotic,
and I mean that as a compliment
The music is so special in this movie in the way that it sounds in the way that it's used
The experience of hearing these tracks laid over top of their respective scenes
is one of the reasons why I've seen it in theaters twice now
And just thinking about it right now makes me want to see it for a third time.
All of the acting was phenomenal.
There wasn't a single weak performance and each character was incredibly realistic
I have literally never seen Robert Pattinson act this well ever.
During the entire film I never once thought of him as Robert Pattinson,
because I believed his characters so much
If A24 were smart enough to release the first 5 to 10 minutes of this film online for free,
there would likely be a significant new rush of people checking out this film.
It opens incredibly strong, and it never slows down much at all. The writing and sequence of events is fantastic
I seriously had no idea where the story was going. Each of the characters were well-defined and believable.
And watching it for a second time,
it's clear that there was a lot of thought and effort put into developing them
I only really had a few minor issues with the film
I already mentioned the overabundance of close-up face shots
My main issue with that is that I feel a little starved in terms of the setting
You know, when they enter a new room, I would like to see what's in the room.
But at the end of the day, it's so clearly intentional
and it helps differentiate their style so much
that I wouldn't really want them to abandon their way of filmmaking just for my sake
Perhaps there are ways in which the style and purpose can be retained
while also making it a bit more pleasing to view,
I mean aesthetically speaking,
this film was a massive improvement from their previous one without making any
sacrifices to the style
But even though it's something that I do feel a little bit of issue with, it's completely worth it for the final product.
Just like the last film, the practical effects were comparatively worse than the rest of the film
Still, Good Time was a massive improvement
so it didn't really detract much from the experience at all
Maybe I'm just a little sick and annoyed of the whole dog attacking someone but only tugging on their arm thing
Wow, what a wild coincidence that that's exactly what they do to stunt trainers specifically
And yeah, the shot of the old guy in the opening scene was a little out of focus.
Not a big enough deal to ruin the movie, but enough that a reshoot definitely wouldn't have hurt.
Anyway, I thought this movie was absolutely fucking awesome from both a critical level and a personal level
I was enjoying this film thoroughly
and who knows I might even watch it for a third time sooner than I do with baby driver
Go check this one out while you can because you never know how long it's gonna stay in theaters
And I'm giving this one an 8 out of 10, maybe a 9 later.
I don't know, you figure it out, fuck.
Whoa, hey guys!
When this video is published, I'll be on Twitch streaming the new "Life is Cringe" come check it out if you want
Thank you.
♫