MAJOR SPOILERS

From The Godfather to Breaking Bad, the narrative of the crime genius or kingpin has become all too familiar. They emerge from relative obscurity to become a central figure in a major crime organisation, they use their new-found resources of money, guns and fear to accumulate almost everything they desire – usually including an incredibly beautiful woman and a needlessly large house – the extremities of their powers reach virtually unprecedented proportions and then through a combination of bad luck, internal rivalries and police operations, it all eventually starts to unravel.

The Wolf of Wall Street is a hugely entertaining crime epic, but ultimately it’s still a white-collar rehash of the many, many rise-and-fall tales of notorious crime hall-of-famers, whether fictional or based on real life. The Wolf of Wall Street is mentioned particularly because Martin Scorsese is very much the master of those; Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York and The Irishman all in one way or another follow that classic “notorious” narrative. Maybe the chief protagonists don’t quite reach the top of whatever crime tree they’re looking to climb, but they’re rarely far off either.

Scorsese’s work has significantly shaped perhaps the most popular single genre in television and film today; who doesn’t love a story fraught with violence, car chases, double-crosses, cold-blooded killing and all the psychology that comes with it? And that’s perhaps why the Safdie Brothers’ two most prominent productions to date, Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019) stand out so much against the grain.

Indeed, while Scorsese’s most recent films have centred around characters that become anchored into the beating heart of America’s crime underworld, the Safdie Brothers instead focus on its peripheral figures – the lowlifes, the deadbeats, the gambling addicts, the losers desperate enough to do something entirely stupid, those somehow intrinsically involved yet lacking any real power at all, stuck somewhere near the bottom of the food chain.

Good Time witnesses Connie Niklas, portrayed impeccably by Robert Pattinson, stumble from one criminal fuck-up to another, starting with a failed bank robbery involving his disabled brother and ending with an almost inexplicable turn of events that cost accidentally acquired accomplice Ray his life.

This is a character who brings no connections of his own to the table throughout the entire movie, yet continuously lies, cheats and steals to survive – in fact, Connie’s most significant character trait is his tendency to take advantage of other people and usually those who are most vulnerable, not least including his besotted girlfriend, his disabled brother and a teenage girl who has the hots for him.

He may be a career criminal, but ultimately Connie is just a New York street rat. A particularly nasty and capable one, yet nothing more than a hooded-up hoodlum hoping his next crime can provide the big break he needs.

Uncut Gems’ Howard Ratner, played by Adam Sandler, at first glance is in a significantly more favourable situation as the owner of a jewellers in New York’s diamond district. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that the Safdie brothers’ chief protagonist is anything but a major player. He’s a gambling addict, one running out of luck, who owes money all over town, including to his loan shark brother-in-law. Powerful friends to call on are few and far between.

While there’s a little more strategy and foresight this time around, Ratner finds himself falling into the same trap as Connie Niklas, playing a big Hail Mary in the hope it can somehow solve all of his problems.

These tales of the crime world’s losers are more reminiscent of Scorsese’s early work, before the narrative of notoriousness became such a hallmark. Mean Streets’ Charlie and Jonny are involved with the New York mafia but are certainly both dispensable, and eventually fall victim to a gangster a couple of rungs up the ladder. Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle, meanwhile, is an utter nobody, to the extent that the entire motivation for his journey throughout the film is his search for genuine purpose in a city of sleaze and corruption.

Like Mean Streets and Taxi Driver too, Good Time and Uncut Gems both bring uneasy conclusions, a lack of definitive closure and no real insight into what happens next. Ratner lays dead on his jewellery shop floor, Nikas is driven away in a police car, Bickle looks nervously in his rear-view mirror seemingly freaked out by an unidentified presence and Charlie’s wheeled away in an ambulance, while Jonny’s fate remains unclear after being involved in a shooting and a car accident.

Such awkward endings are important in once again reminding us what these stories are about. All four movies have a sense of the main characters lacking any kind of clear plan and in turn the plot having any natural shape or structure – they at times even give off the impression the endings weren’t decided until some way into the scripts being written.

After all, what does the life of a crime world loser look like? Why would it have a natural ebb and flow to it, like the rise and fall of Scarface or the incredible accumulation of violence at the end of Gangs of New York? These are underworld hermits, crawling from one ill-informed punt to another, hoping to find what they’re looking for – whether it’s a way out, a way in, survival or significance. Why would there be a chorus ensemble welcoming them if they get there, and why wouldn’t they suffer disastrous consequences if they don’t?

This quartet of films are particularly refreshing because of it. Instead of glamorising crime through the narrative of notoriousness, they show a much bleaker, murkier and likely more accurate side of the underworld – people down on their luck, making one questionable decision after another and facing the consequences.

Through all their misfortune, unconventional stories and unsatisfying conclusions, the crime world’s deadbeats just feel that little bit more real. While Scorsese once delivered such tales with aplomb, it’s the Safdie brothers carrying that torch now.