There are just over eight million people packed into the five boroughs that make up the world’s most famous city. From its towering skyline to the littered sidewalks, New York City bristles with a unique blend of glamour and grit. That energy infects its residents, making New Yorkers some of the most compelling people on the planet.
Among those residents are the Safdie Brothers, Josh and Benny, two maverick filmmakers who have channeled their native city’s intensity into a distinctive body of work. Their films are anxious, neo-realist studies of characters living inside the very streets that shaped them. Committed to capturing authenticity, the Safdies manipulate emotion with a sometimes uncomfortable intimacy, keeping viewers locked into the chaotic inner lives of their protagonists. Their characters are self-serving and often trapped by their own choices, yet the Safdies find ways to make us care without turning these figures into simple sympathetic heroes. Josh and Benny’s hands-on approach—directing, acting, writing, editing and overseeing sound—means their fingerprints are visible on every frame.
Charming and mischievous, Josh and Benny are as endearing in interviews as they are exacting in production. Their rapport is infectious: they interrupt one another, laugh like children, and speak with the frenetic energy that fuels their films. Benny’s tendency to stay close to technical details—sometimes even holding the boom mic—and Josh’s playful gestures toward his brother illustrate a collaborative bond that runs through their work.
Ranking the Safdies’ films is a difficult task because each project pursues a different angle of their cinematic obsessions. Below, in this curated ranking, we travel through the brothers’ filmography to find order within their deliberate chaos.
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Honourable Mention – The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008)
The Pleasure of Being Robbed, directed solely by Josh Safdie, is an early glimpse of a filmmaker finding his voice. It follows Eleonore (Eleonore Hendricks), a young woman who compulsively takes small items that do not belong to her. She moves through New York with a roguish curiosity, prying into strangers’ lives and pocketing minor treasures—a handful of grapes, a stray kitten, the contents of a handbag—things that fascinate her more than cash or conventional rewards.
Shot on a shoestring budget with a naturalistic, sometimes improvised approach to dialogue, the film carries echoes of early mumblecore aesthetics. It lacks the intense immersion and suspense of later Safdie projects but captures the virtues of independent filmmaking: charm, spontaneity and a willingness to foreground character over plot. Josh also appears on screen in a memorable, playful turn that adds to the film’s quirky appeal.
5. Lenny Cooke (2013)
The 2013 sports documentary Lenny Cooke chronicles the rise and fall of a talented young basketball player once ranked above future stars like LeBron James. Using archival footage, home movies, news segments and abandoned documentary material, the Safdies trace Cooke’s decision to enter the 2002 NBA draft and the personal and circumstantial choices that left him undrafted. The result is a melancholic portrait of near-success and the consequences of missed opportunities.
By revisiting Cooke as an adult, now focused on family life, the film balances tragedy with a surprising dignity. The Safdies’ affection for basketball gives the documentary emotional clarity, and their ability to tell a cinematic story outside of fiction showcases their versatility as filmmakers.
4. Heaven Knows What (2014)
Heaven Knows What — Review available
The Safdies’ second collaboration, Heaven Knows What, fictionalizes the life of Arielle Holmes as Harley, a young woman caught between heroin addiction and turbulent romance. With a larger budget and a willingness to experiment, the brothers developed techniques that would become hallmarks of their style: raw performances, immersive camerawork and a blurred line between documentary and fiction.
Casting actual addicts and street-involved people gave the film an unsettling immediacy. It’s neither conventional drama nor pure documentary but rather a poetic reconstruction of life on the margins. The Safdies avoid romanticizing homelessness or addiction; they present the filth, the volatility and the heartbreak unflinchingly, while still creating an emotional pathway for the audience to connect with Harley.
3. Daddy Longlegs (2009)
Described by the Safdies as “the story of a guy and his two good friends that just so happen to be his kids,” Daddy Longlegs is the brothers’ most autobiographical film. Based on their relationship with their father, the film follows Lenny (Ronald Bronstein), an energetic but deeply irresponsible parent, as he spends two chaotic weeks caring for his sons.
Bronstein gives a compulsive performance as Lenny: selfish, cowardly and yet oddly lovable in his manic antics. The movie balances dark humor with moments of genuine dread—Lenny’s well-intentioned but reckless behavior leads to scenes that can be as horrifying as they are laughable. Daddy Longlegs reveals early iterations of the Safdies’ interest in flawed, charismatic protagonists and anticipates the moral complexity that defines their later work.
2. Good Time (2017)
Good Time — Review available
With Good Time, the Safdies elevated their style into a full-throttle thriller. Robert Pattinson transforms from his earlier Hollywood persona into Connie Nikas, a desperate and reckless criminal determined to save his brother after a failed bank robbery. The film unfolds over a single, relentless night across Manhattan and Queens, and it becomes an exercise in escalating anxiety.
The Safdies, working with cinematographer Sean Price Williams and composer Daniel Lopatin, craft a claustrophobic, pulsing world: tight close-ups, lurid lighting and a score that amplifies the film’s nervous energy. Pattinson’s committed performance, together with compelling supporting turns, makes Good Time one of the most intense and memorable films of the decade.
1. Uncut Gems (2019)
Uncut Gems — Review available
Uncut Gems represents the Safdies at full force. After nearly a decade of development, many script drafts and rigorous research in New York’s Diamond District, Josh and Benny created a sensory film that overwhelms as much as it enthralls. Adam Sandler’s portrayal of Howard Ratner—a charismatic, compulsive jeweler consumed by gambling—anchors a film that is physically and mentally exhausting in the best possible way.
The film follows Howard’s attempt to sell a rare Ethiopian opal as a means to climb out of mounting debts. The Safdies build tension through rapid cuts, close framing and an anxious score that keeps viewers on edge. A cast of New York natives—including Julia Fox in a dazzling breakout turn—grounds the film, while cameos from athletes and performers add local color. Cinematography by Darius Khondji and a pulsating soundscape complete an experience that is as technically assured as it is viscerally effective.
Uncut Gems is an era-defining thriller that crystallizes the Safdies’ strengths: intense character focus, immersive realism and an ability to transform city life into cinematic pressure.
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