You know, kids, it’s pretty easy to get jaded by the endless stream of crap movies pretending to be indie genius. Sometimes you get lucky and stumble on something great by accident. Sometimes your luck is garbage. In the case of Real Time, written and directed by Randall Cole and starring Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder) and Randy Quaid (Brokeback Mountain), it’s a sharp, no-frills indie gem.

Clocking in at just 77 minutes, Real Time is a tight, conversational character study with dry laughs courtesy of Baruchel and some bleak realness delivered by Quaid. Baruchel plays Andy, a gambling screw-up who owes a lot of money to some very dangerous people. Quaid is Reuben, a hitman who finds Andy at 1:47 p.m. on a weekday in a dingy part of Canada and calmly informs him that unless he coughs up the debt, he’s going to die at exactly 3:00 p.m.

As the movie unfolds in real time, Reuben insists Andy spend his final hour revisiting anything in his life that might’ve been worthwhile. A farewell tour of sorts, drenched in deadpan humor and surprising tenderness.

You’ll think you’ve nailed the ending within the first ten minutes. Odds are, you haven’t. Baruchel’s comic timing and unexpected dramatic chops hold the movie up, while Quaid leans into a pseudo–James Gandolfini vibe with an off-kilter Aussie accent that somehow works.

Don’t rush this one. Sit with it. Real Time is Danger approved.