Good Time — Characters Discussion
O n Tuesday we talked about the plot of the movie Good Time, an amazing piece, written and directed by the Safdie Brothers.
Today, we will talk about the characters, their behaviour, choices and motivations.
Before we start, let’s look at who the main characters are and by which actor they were portrayed.
- Constantine “Connie” Nikas — Robert Pattinson
- Nickolas “Nick” Nikas — Benny Safdie (who also directed the movie)
- Ray — Buddy Duress
- Crystal — Taliah Webster
- Corey Ellman — Jennifer Jason Leigh
**Again, this discussion will be containing spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, do so first!**
Before we start, let’s shortly recap the storyline of the movie.
The movie starts with Nick at his psychiatrist’s office, when his brother Connie bursts into the office to take Nick with him. In order to make some money, Connie convinces Nick to rob a bank with him, however, while on the run, Nick gets arrested. Trying to free Nick from prison, Connie asks his girlfriend Corey to lend him 10k, to pay the rest of Nick’s bail. After her card is being declined, Connie takes manners into his own hands and frees Nick while in the hospital, recovering from his prison fight injuries. Not knowing where to go, Connie’s seeks shelter at Annie’s house, an elderly lady who he met on the shuttle leaving the hospital. During his stay Connie meets Crystal, Annie’s granddaughter. Unfortunately, once “Nick” wakes up at Annie’s house, Connie realises that he rescued the wrong person. This person turned out to be Ray, who was released from jail less than 24h prior to these event. Unfortunately, his first night in freedom led to drinking, taking drugs, and engaging in illegal activities, ultimately getting him arrested again.
Wanting to bring Ray back to the hospital and finding his actual brother, Connie, Crystal and Ray make their way back to the hospital, which is now swarmed by police officers, who have realised that Ray was missing. As an alternative, Ray and Connie decide to look for money which got stashed during Ray arrest at Adventureland. Leaving Crystal in the car, Connie and Ray try to find the money, but are unfortunately faced with the night guard having spotted them on the CCTV. After he catches Ray, the night guard looks for Connie who ultimately knocks the guard unconscious. However, the guard had already alarmed the police, leading Connie to disguise as the security guard, pretending like the real security guard was the intruder who then got hit by someone who escaped the premises. The increasing commotion led clueless Crystal to exit the car and have a look. The guard catches her walking around and arrests her as a potential suspect, even after Connie assured them that it in fact was a man who had hit the person.
Even though they can’t find the money, Connie and Ray find a bottle of acid, which ray hid during his arrest. They then go back to the security guard’s home, where they call Ray’s friend Caliph, who made the acid, trying to sell it back to him. Once Caliph arrives, there are some arguments as to the price of the acid, leading Connie to take the bottle and escaping, leaving Ray behind. However, once outside the building, Connie is greeted by police officers who chase and arrest him. Ray, still being in apartment, tries to escape trough the window, but ends up slipping and falling to his death.
The movie ends at the same place where it starts, with Nick back at his psychiatrist, who introduces him to a new group, hoping it will help Nick get better.
Now that we have refreshed our memories, let’s start the discussion:
Constantine “Connie” Nikas
Connie is the main character in the movie. If you’ve read our last post about the plot, you’ll know that the movie’s pace was made to represent the speed at which Connie’s brain is functioning. They wanted to show how quickly his brain works and how this is leading him to make these quick and often irrational choices.
Backstory
The movie does not mention much about Connie before we meet him at the psychiatrist’s office, but the directors have said that he recently was released out of prison, but we don’t know on what charges. Moreover, we know that he was black-listed from his family many years ago, posing the question of how much he actually knows his brother Nick?
His upbringing and the time spent in prison, led to Connie seeing society for what it is, and not for what is wants to be. This also leads him to believe that everything and everyone is against him, which puts him in a constant fight or flight mode.
Connie’s Relationship with Nick
When we are introduced to Connie, we think that he only wants what’s best for Nick — for the two to be together. This is being reinforced during the elevator scene in which Connie hugs and kisses Nick, telling him that he loves him. But it does pose the question of it being good love or toxic love? Especially since the first thing Connie convinces Nick to do is to rob a bank, something a good brother wouldn’t do, right?
Even though it seems questionable, Connie does really care for his brother and wants him to be happy and feel appreciated. During the bank robbery, he repeatedly tells Nick that he could not do that without him. Moreover, his core mission throughout the entire movie is to, not only free him from jail, but to release him of their grandmother’s ‘claws’. He sees himself as a rescuer, a hero, but a hero who certainly hasn’t thought things through.
Connie can also be described as the best and worst thing that could happen to Nick.
Connie the Manipulator
Connie is, there is no question, very good at manipulating people, knowing exactly which buttons to press to get what he wants. This doesn’t just play a role in his relationship with Nick, but with any person in his life, especially women. He shows great affection and love for them, as long as they can help him. But if they can’t, he will drop them.
A great example for this is his relationship with Corey. While we do not learn much about the timeline of their relationship, we do get the feeling that they have quite the past together. While their relationship seems very close and intimate, it does seem like Corey’s feelings are stronger than Connie’s. Moreover, something must have happened in the past, reasoning Corey’s mother’s negative response to when Connie first shows up.
We can also tell that Connie must have been around a lot, based on the fact that he immediately made himself feel at home, laying on Corey’s bed and cuddling her dogs. This sort of invasiveness can also be seen when Connie stays at Annie and Crystal’s house. Not only does he go through their stuff, but actually uses a hair dye pack he finds, without asking, and then pretends like it is the most normal thing in the world.
It was unfortunate that we don’t know what Connie told Corey before getting into the taxi, but he must have something to do with the trip Corey keeps mentioning. This trip seems to have been a facade to get Corey to go with him, as he only tells her about Nick when in the taxi. He also already start to manipulate her by accusing her of not caring about his brother. He also lies to her, telling her he would only need a few thousands dollars, whereas he exactly knew that it was 10 thousand dollars. Arriving at the bail bondsman’s office, Corey finds out about the actual amount of money and even though she is taken aback, Connie ignores her worries and assures the bail bondsman that she will be paying the amount. Once Corey is paying, Connie becomes very affectionate, hugging and kissing Corey, however, his mood quickly changes once her card has been declined, getting rather angry and annoyed.
The same manipulation happened with Crystal, when he uses her to borrow the car and tells her that he is “feeling her” and that he believes that he is somehow connected to his purpose. I’m not sure if Connie is actually that spiritual, or if he again used to to manipulate Crystal. Regardless, I also wonder why he told her this at that moment; was it to ensure she would not drive away? Was it so she would not rat him out to the police, even though he said the brother’s mix up was the hospitals fault?
As a last example, Connie repeatedly told Annie ‘God Bless You’, wanting to seem kind, but is Connie actually religious? He may have suspected that Annie is religious and therefore played upon that aspect.
Power Tattoo
A little detail that was only visible for a short period of time is Connie’s “Power” tattoo on his upper back. It can be seen during his hair dye scene, where he sits in the room, looking at the non-functioning TV and trying to reach Corey.
How would you interpret the tattoo, dear reader?
I believe that the tattoo represents his main value which is power. Not only does he want to have control over everything and everyone, but he wants to have the power to make people do what he wants. At the same time, it is probably used as a reminder for him that he is strong and that he can get through and overcome whichever challenge he is facing.
Connie and Consequences don’t go together
I don’t believe that the word “consequences” is even part of Connie’s vocabulary, and if it is, he certainly does not like to think about it. Because he finds himself in this constant fight or flight mode, he is used to making decisions on the spot, rather thank thinking about the (moral) implications.
Connie’s View of Himself
Even though we were constantly watching him, it still feels like we know very little about him. This was probably a conscious decision from the directors, as we generally get very little background on each character. During one of the final scenes, when Ray tries to have an open and honest conversation with Connie, it feels like this is the first time we actually get to see what’s behind Connie’s facade. However, it wasn’t a case of ‘hard shell and soft center”. Turns out, Connie actually thinks very highly of himself and believes that he is better than everyone else. Still, to this point, he does not think that he has done anything wrong.
I can imagine that the years of being on his own or in prison, have taught him to always be strong and to be very sure of himself, as any indication of vulnerability could have been exploited or used to harm him. He simply didn’t want to seem weak, which again relates to his power tattoo.
Connie’s Ending
Even though the movie led the viewer to root for Connie, the second he was greeted by the police outside the house, it was clear that he would now get arrested. What I love most about this scene is the complete change in Connie’s facial expression. From being a cocky, conceited guy only 5 minutes prior, he suddenly had a blank stare on his face. It seemed like, only then was he waking up and realising what he had done and that he now had to face the consequences.
This change in mentality was also nicely captured by the camera as suddenly everything started to slow down. If you remember, the film was shot in a very quick pace, in order to represent the speed at which Connie’s brain is working. But now that he suddenly has this realisation, his brain and therefore the scene finally slows down, getting into a sort of disbelief phase.
Nickolas “Nick” Nikas
We are introduced to Nick during the very first scene of the movie, when he is visiting his psychiatrist. During these few minutes, it becomes clear that Nick very much lives in his own world, struggling to keep up with the real world, as well as seeing things very differently. Moreover, we see that Nick has some form of handicap, including a speech impediment, which causes his slight delay in thinking.
Background
While we again do not learn much about his past, we do know that he lives with his grandmother, and that there was an incident where he ended up being violent. I don’t think that Nick is a violent guy, but that, when he feels like he’s pushed up against a wall, he start to throw punches to protect himself. Moreover, I think that Nick might not always realise that he is quite a big and strong guy.
Nick just wants to do his own thing, without being managed by anyone, however, his life is quite the opposite, living with his grandmother or now Connie.
Nick’s Relationship with Connie
A lot has already been said about this relationship, but I do feel like Nick has a bit of a different view on his relationship with his brother. First of all, as just mentioned, Nick doesn’t want to be managed, which is probably why he feels so uncomfortable when being forced to rob a bank. In contrary to Connie, Nick does have some feel for consequences, if not much, he does know when something is wrong.
Another scene which Nick might have experienced in a slightly different manner is the affectionate elevator scene. Benny Safdie, the actor who portrayed Nick, actually said that this would be the last thing Nick would want, as being touched or held makes him uncomfortable.
Nick’s Need of Privacy
What I found interesting to see is that Nick does not like people to know or talk about him. During the opening scene he repeatedly asks Peter, his psychiatrist, as to why he is writing down Nick’s responses. Furthermore, when Connie comes in, Nick actually says that he can’t leave because Peter has his things, which is why Nick makes sure to rip Peter’s notes apart before leaving.
Nick’s Feelings
I’m unsure if it is because of his disability, but Nick is described to only feel a small sensation of a feeling. He doesn’t feel actual pain or anger, but just a split moment of it, which is probably also why he is so blunt and serious when talking, showing no facial expressions.
Nick’s New Beginning?
I very much liked the ending scene when we can see Nick slowly opening up and partaking in the exercise. I like how, for the first time, he wasn’t pushed or pressured to join, but the counsellor just let him listen and think until he felt comfortable enough to join the exercise.
Ray
Ray seems to be quite a chaotic character who, even though he tries, still ends up in trouble.
Ray’s Relationship with Connie
Ray and Connie don’t get along very well, however, they do work together and help each other out, even after only knowing each other for a few hours.
I believe the reason for their disagreements to be their difference in characters. While Connie does not thing about possible consequences, Ray is very well aware of them, trying to make Connie aware of them, which fails.
Ray Opens Up
One of my favourite Ray scenes, is when he tries to have an open and honest conversation with Connie, asking him about how much time he will face in jail. This gesture and the way his voice changes, kind of slowed down the movie. It felt like for the first time, we could actually just sit back and take a breather. This is also the moment where the characters (apart from Connie) and audience realises that in fact, if caught, both of them would face quite some time in prison.
Crystal
Background
As with all of the characters, we do not know much about Crystal’s upbringing. We can only assume that she either is no longer in touch with her parents, or her parents have passed away, since she’s living with her grandmother Annie. All we find out is that she’s 16 years old and seems to spend a lot of time alone, as well as taking drugs and smoking. This was certainly enforced by her ex-boyfriend who is a drug dealer.
Crystal’s Relationship with Connie
When first meeting Connie, it seemed like she wasn’t having any of it. Maybe it is due to her past, or the general nativity of a 16 year old, but she quickly started to warm up to him, taking his odd behaviour, like randomly dying his hair, with a certain casualness. It can also be that she simply wanted and liked having someone to talk to. Moreover, she did mind him suddenly kissing her and carrying her to her room.
She continues to trust him, as she helps him borrow her grandmother’s car and goes with Connie and Ray, even after Connie confessed that Ray is just some random guy and not in fact his brother.
Corey Ellman
Background
Corey unfortunately only plays a very small part in the movie. All we know is that she still lives with her mother and is receiving money from her.
Corey’s Relationship with Connie
As mentioned before, she seems to have an intimate relationship with Connie, however, I do believe her feelings to be stronger than his. It seems like, even though she is being used by Connie, she does enjoy his company and keeps on falling into his trap. I believe she would do anything to help and be with him. But again is raises the question of it being toxic or general love, and if Connie would ever even be able to genuinely love her or any other woman.
Corey’s Relationship with her Mother
What stands out most about Corey is her relationship to her mother. We might not know how old Corey is, but we can guess her to be at an age where people have normally moved out from home. While Corey does seem to be fine living there and being able to use her mother’s money, she does mention that she is a prisoner at home and that she cannot leave. It must be a double edged sword situation where, being at home means being a prisoners, but leaving meaning to have no more money.
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Uff, that was quite the post, wasn’t it?
What do you think of the characters? Do you agree with some of my interpretations or do you see them completely different? Please let me know in the comment section below.
Don’t forget to come back on later this week, when we will look at some of the BTS of the movie, as well as the directors’ visions and ideas.
Looking forward to seeing you guys then!
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