Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson) brings his disabled brother (Benny Safdie) along for a clumsy bank robbery, which causes them both to flee on foot. The Safdie brothers’ breakthrough has an excellent performance by Benny as a young man with developmental challenges who’s drawn into his criminal brother’s schemes; that’s the heart of the film. The lead performance though belongs to Pattinson who’s very impressive as the thug who has enough street smarts to evade the police, at least for a while. A well-paced thriller, dark, filthy and exciting as we follow Connie’s ultimately hopeless escape. The film gets an additional boost from the electronic music score.
2017-U.S. 101 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Sebastian Bear-McClard, Oscar Boyson, Terry Dougas, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis. Directed by Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie. Screenplay: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie. Music: Oneohtrix Point Never. Editing: Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie. Cast: Robert Pattinson (Constantin ”Connie” Nikas), Benny Safdie (Nickolas ”Nick” Nikas), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Loren), Barkhad Abdi, Buddy Duress, Taliah Lennice Webster.
Last word: “If you make the white-elephant films that are loudly about something, then people walk in with a certain agenda. But if you make a movie that’s considered garbage – like a crime film – you’re playing with a more interesting space because it’s considered disposable. It’s like tricking a kid into eating cereal: you put a cartoon on the cover of the box, but it’s filled with a bunch of vitamins.” (Josh Safdie, The Guardian)
