Twilight's Robert Pattinson is now an Oscar contender after Cannes

In a remarkable turnaround of fortunes, it looks like Robert Pattinson might be on the way to transition from teen heartthrob vampire to Oscar contender.

And it’s all thanks to his new movie ‘Good Time’, which has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

The crime drama, directed by Ben and Josh Safdie, is being called a ‘career best’ for the 31-year-old actor.

It finds Pattinson’s Constantine ‘Connie’ Nikas, a small-time crook on a dangerous journey through the criminal underworld to get his brother out of jail following a bank robbery, and is being compared to classic heist movie ‘Dog Day Afternoon’.

Thus far, it has a scorching 93% approval rating on reviews aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with everyone from The Times to The Hollywood Reporter rating it highly, and many singling Pattinson out for particular praise.

His performance has been variously called ‘intoxicating’ and ‘his most accomplished to date’.

“Pattinson has admirably tried, again and again, to prove he has something more to offer than an edgy pulchritude, but his chosen projects (Cosmopolis and The Rover, say) have been barren soil, till now,” writes Tim Robey in the Daily Telegraph.

There is precedent for this, of course.

Pattinson’s partner in vampirism Kristen Stewart, who starred as Bella in the ‘Twilight’ films, performed a similar about face only last year, when her movie ‘Personal Shopper’ was hailed by critics at the festival.

But then this appears to be an unusual year for Cannes, not least because of the glut of good films which were on offer.

In a turn-up that has baffled many, critics are using the words ‘Adam Sandler’ and ‘Oscar’ in the same breath thanks to his turn in the family comedy-drama ‘The Meyerowitz Stories’, helmed by Noah Baumbach.

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