Though they have for now gone their separate ways, brothers Josh and Benny Safdie remain distinctive as artifacts of the push-and-pull of their combined sensibilities: a detailed sense of reality, a romantic sweep and a showman’s flair. Based on the unpublished memoir of the film’s electrifying star, Arielle Holmes, depicting her life as a young drug addict caught up in a toxically self-destructive relationship with another junkie (Caleb Landry Jones), the film is a terrifying cautionary tale told with operatic panache. “Heaven Knows What” also stands as a tribute to sweetly comic actor Buddy Duress, who died from an overdose in 2023.

“Heaven Knows What” is playing Sept. 19 at Brain Dead Studios. Tickets here.