In his review for The New York Times, Peter Schjeldahl calls Payday “a brilliant, nasty little chrome‐plated razor blade of a movie.” I couldn’t say it better in so few words, so let’s leave it there.

Knowing that some of my most stalwart NewScreen attendees would be unable to attend tonight for one reason or another, I really didn’t know what to expect, but hey… the show must go on, right? Each sounding of the buzzer, however, marked the arrival of another pleasantly surprising guest, and, before we knew it, we had a great crew installed, complete with the first watermelon of the season (thank you Vera!), some of which found its way into yummy martinis.

And then… the movie. It had been several years since I had last seen it, and I’d forgotten much of it. What a ride!