Josh Safdie makes a bad decision feel urgent enough to share. We recommend his restless, crowded films, though we sometimes wish he would spend longer with the people his leading men inconvenience.
Fi1m perspective
In Good Time (2017), Robert Pattinson’s Connie Nikas needs to get his brother out of custody, and each fresh difficulty makes another bad decision seem necessary. Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie keep us close enough to follow his priorities before we have weighed the damage. Pattinson’s nervous energy makes that persuasive. We can see why Connie keeps going without accepting that he should.
Safdie’s solo debut was The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008), followed by the partnership with Benny that began with Daddy Longlegs (2009). Their work together continued through Uncut Gems (2019), before Josh returned to solo directing with Marty Supreme (2025). The change has not made his films calmer. His table tennis player, Marty Mauser, is prepared to lie to nearly everyone to get ahead.
Much of that pressure is made in the editing. In Good Time, Benny Safdie and Ronald Bronstein bring on the next difficulty before the last decision can be properly considered, while Daniel Lopatin’s electronic score makes delay feel dangerous. The music can press too hard, and the later complications begin to look like excuses to keep Connie moving. The supporting characters are interesting enough that we want to stay with them; the directors are too quick to move on.
Marty Supreme gives that crowded feeling a physical setting: Darius Khondji’s long lenses fill the frame with heads, while Jack Fisk’s low ceilings and worn tables keep Marty’s ambitions in cramped rooms. Bronstein and Josh Safdie cut conversations before anyone can finish. We found ourselves tensing up during the table tennis because their editing stays on the players’ faces and lets the sound of the ball carry the game. Here, the insistence pays off.
Timothée Chalamet can sustain the pace, but Gwyneth Paltrow’s stillness as Kay Stone is a welcome interruption. Safdie is good at casting people we believe immediately, less reliable about giving them enough to do. At 150 minutes, Marty Supreme spends too long with a hustler it likes more than we do, even as the matches justify our recommendation. Start with Good Time, but do not expect a restful evening.
Biography
Josh Safdie is an American filmmaker. He was born on 3 April 1984 in New York City.
With his brother Benny Safdie he directed Heaven Knows What (2015), Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019). The brothers separated professionally in 2024. Safdie's first solo feature since The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008) is Marty Supreme (2025), which he also wrote, edited and produced.
