Back when we were suffering though a retch-inducing Twilight movie once a year, I don’t think any of us predicted its stars would turn become two of the most daring and reliable presences on the American independent film scene. But here we are. Kristen Stewart, of course, is slaying it left and right, with acclaimed appearances in films like Personal Shopper, Certain Women, and Clouds of Sils Maria. Robert Pattinson has kept an even lower profile, starring in two David Cronenberg films, turning up all but unrecognizable in the period pieces The Childhood of a Leader and The Lost City of Z, and doing a tour of duty with Werner Herzog in Queen of the Desert.
And now here he is, again almost in disguise, in Good Time – which, title notwithstanding, is not a big-screen prequel to the classic ‘70s comedy series Good Times, starring Jimmie “Dy-no-mite” Walker. It’s the latest from Josh and Benny Safdie, the iconoclastic filmmakers behind such tiny-budget wonders as the Cassavettes riff Daddy Longlegs and the harrowing heroin drama Heaven Knows What . Good Time looks very much in that vein, a rough-edged drama about a small-time criminal (Pattinson) whose brother gets pinched for a bank robbery. And here is the trailer:
Good Time is premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival next week; it will hit theaters on August 11.