new review

"I developed a real soft spot for this film - with my only complaint being that I wished it was longer." (read more)

"This is not just the best disc released this week, but one of my favorite discoveries of the year so far. The GoodTimesKid is more than a breath of fresh air, it's an afternoon where you never look at your watch and throw your phone in the lake." - Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere (read more)

Screening Party tonite!

Join us to celebrate the DVD release of The GoodTimesKid
tonite, Thursday, 8PM
at the DownTown Independent
(251 S. Main St., b/t W. Third & W. Second Sts., Downtown (213-617-1033)
David Orlando (of Punky Reggae) spinning after the film

more

"Evoking Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria, Chaplin's dinner roll dance in The Gold Rush, and that staple of nouvelle vague coolness, The Madison from Godard's Band of Outsiders, Diaz's whimsical solo in a chocolate-stained dress and black Converse is one of those rare moments of fleeting joy whose ephemerality is only enhanced by its capture on film." - Cullen Gallagher, L MAGAZINE (read more)

"Today the good fellows at Benten Films release Azazel Jacobs' truly beguiling absurdist near-tragicomedy The GoodTimes Kid in a thoroughly lovely DVD edition." - Glen Kenny SOME CAME RUNNING (read more)

Dvd out today - new reviews

"Every moment consequently is a sheer delight, doing its best to shake up all those depresso filmmakers who have done it all before and all you depresso cinemagoers out there who have seen it all before, and maybe remind you what the joy of making films and the joy of watching films is all about." DVD Times (read more)

"Diaz is a camera lens’ sweetheart: a laconic fusion of Audrey Hepburn and a young Conrad Veidt, she trumps Shelley Duvall’s Olive Oyl" Michael Atkinson, IFC (read more)

"The GoodTimesKid (Benten Films) — The boys at Benten Films absolutely crush it out of the park for the long overdue home video release of Azazel Jacobs’ enchanting second feature. A deadpan noir breakup comedy involving mistaken identities, The GoodTimesKid feels like it was shot in an earlier, more innocent time" Michael Tully, Hammer To Nail (read more)

"A film like 500 Days of Summer bends over backwards to convince you it takes place in a world where cultural totems of disaffection still mean something. The GoodTimesKid actually creates and takes place in such a world, without strain." Karina Longworth, SPOUT.com (read more)

"Before there was Momma's Man there was The GoodTimesKid. In Azazel Jacobs's second feature you can see his style beginning to take form, meshing a punk-rock attitude with cinema influences as wide ranging from Chaplin to Jarmusch." Jason Guerrasio, Filmaker Magazine (read more)

Blog Critic

"The GoodTimesKid is a film that has it all — deadpan simplicity, whimsical heartbreak, drawn-on mustaches." (read more)

GoodTimesKid DVD August 11th

The DVD by Benten Films of The GoodTimesKid is almost out. To celebrate there will be a screening at the Downtown Independent in L.A. and party afterward, August 13th at 8pm. Please come. The DVD should be widely available, rent from Netflix or order directly from Amazon.

• Director commentary with contributions from co-stars Gerardo Naranjo and Diaz

• The Whirled (1956-63): A never before released short film by Ken Jacobs starring Jack Smith that helped inspire The GoodTimesKid

• Let's Get Started: A short film by Azazel Jacobs

• Deleted Scenes

• Photo Gallery

• Original Trailer

• PLUS: An all-new essay by film critic Glenn Kenny

Release announcement

Benten Films and Watchmaker Films Announce International Partnership

Both companies will continue to “support new and underrepresented filmmakers from around the world.” Benten is currently working on their first 2009 release, Azazel Jacobs’ “The GoodTimesKid,” which will be fully remastered from a 2K scan of the original negative, and preserved in an archival 4K scan. “It’s important to expand on the standard canon of great films and support up-and-coming filmmakers with state-of-the-art presentations in every format, from cinemas to DVD and beyond,” said Rance in a statement. (read more)