There’s a very specific, terrifying feeling of experiencing a situation spiral out of control. It’s a tightness in the chest, like someone is exerting their whole weight onto you and pushing panic up through your throat. Your brain starts to move a million miles a second, frantically grasping for a way out, which probably means your next move will be to make things far worse.
Maybe you haven’t felt this before exactly, maybe you’ve lived a relatively peaceful life free of these kinds of scenarios. Whether you already know this feeling or can only picture it in your head, there’s a way to replicate that feeling in your chest. Just watch a Safdie Brothers’ film.
Josh and Bennie Safdie have been making movies since the late 2000s. Low-budget guerilla-style films, like “The Pleasure of Being Robbed” or “Daddy Longlegs,” were shot in New York City and follow kleptomaniacs, irresponsible fathers, and heroin addicts. These films varied from black comedy to tragedy but were always grounded in a deep sense of realism that placed the audience shoulder-to-shoulder with their eccentric, morally gray characters. They’re worth watching, as they portray deeply tragic and unique stories that aren’t given a wide release. More importantly, though, they establish the early seeds of the Safdie Brothers’ style, which they would later refine in their more recent films to deliver dazzling punches to the gut.
“I think something very important is happening and it’s deeply connected to my purpose,” says Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson). Connie believes what he’s saying, but the audience knows better than him. His purpose is not grand, noble, or worthy of anything other than a jail cell. Yet somehow, someway, in “Good Time” (2017), we want Connie to make it.
The film begins with Connie’s severely mentally handicapped brother, Nick (Benny Safdie), being caught after the two of them have just robbed a bank. What ensues is nightmare fuel, as Connie scrambles through the subterranean underbelly of New York City desperately trying to avoid the law and pull together enough cash to post Nick’s bail before something horrible happens to him.
This is the first magic trick the Safdies pull off. You’d be hard-pressed to find a character in cinema more detestable than Connie. He manipulates his brother, his family, his friends and everyone around him to get what he wants. Connie does truly horrible things in “Good Time,” and yet for some reason, the audience wants him to make it. We don’t love Connie; in fact, we hate him, but his motives — no matter how twisted — are rooted in a desire to see his pure-hearted brother home safe. Never mind that he’s responsible for putting Nick in harm’s way in the first place. Josh and Benny are keenly aware of how to play with their audience. They want us to feel the extremes that Connie feels, but know we can only truly scramble along with him if have some tangible reason to stay invested. They want us to feel disgusted with Connie while we pray for his survival.
The Safdies pump their films with adrenaline and create a deep sense of paranoia in the viewer that rivals most horror flicks. Their technical awareness allows them to utilize the environment to cast a sense of chaos over any scene. Preferring to shoot in real locations rather than sets, the brothers mix in audio of both the main actors and the people talking around them. This may seem simple, but the process is painstakingly long, forcing them to pick through hours of footage and bring the actor’s voice to the forefront while still keeping the sounds of bustling streets and shouting side characters around them. The result is worth it, casting a wave over the audience of sounds that are just in-tune enough to be audible and just chaotic enough to feel overwhelming.
“Uncut Gems,” released in 2019, is the Safdies’ most intense, nail-biting work to date. The film features Adam Sandler in a late-career knock-out performance as Howard Ratner, a New York City jeweler who also happens to be a gambling addict. Howard twists and turns through the world of jewels, basketball and mafia as he makes a series of high-stakes bets, each riskier than the last. He’s another seedy Safdie protagonist. His home life is crumbing and nobody trusts him as he spirals out of control in an attempt to satiate his addiction. Yet, once again, thanks to Sandler’s eerie charisma, we root for Howard. We know there isn’t a single bet that will be enough for him, but we feel his panic and somehow find room in our hearts for him.
While “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems” are the standout examples, every Safdie film is shot with extreme close-ups. The audience moves with the characters, and there’s a sense that these people can be touched because they are so close to the screen. It’s all controlled though, never poorly framed or indistinct, rather intimate and claustrophobic. Their visual style is unique and fitting for New York City, a place that can feel like it’s tightening its grip around its inhabitants as they worm their way across its streets.
Josh and Benny’s work is reminiscent of the gritty, dirty crime flicks of the 1970s. Their stories harken back to “Mean Streets” or “Dog Day Afternoon,” with their unconventional approach to filmmaking and morally gray characters. They are telling stories that studios stopped wanting to tell years ago. It should go without saying that the Safdies’ films are not for everyone. Some prefer a clean-cut protagonist with a strong sense of morals; some would rather not sit through an onslaught of sleazy criminal activities. Yet the scummy men the Safdies pulled out of the sewers of New York demand the attention of those willing to endure the heart-pounding ride that they subject themselves to.
