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Watch Adam Sandler Play A Times Square Street Performer In Safdie Brothers' 'GOLDMAN v SILVERMAN' Short Film
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 16, 2020
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GOLDMAN v SILVERMAN
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 16, 2020
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Uncut Gems was my favorite movie of 2019, an edge-of-your-seat thrilling ride that is like freebasing horseradish at seder. The Safdie Brothers' film gave Adam Sandler his greatest role ever, a charming and repulsive performance of a hustler who thrives on the chaos of his life. The Safdies got along so well with Sandler, they also found some time to collaborate on a short film about two warring street performers in Times Square called GOLDMAN v SILVERMAN. And you can watch the full six minute short below.
Directed by the Safdies, the short stars Sandler as the titular Goldman and Benny Safdie as Silverman. Here's the description of the plot: "Rod Goldman and Al Silverman are street performers who work the tourist scene of Times Square. Goldman gets no respect and Silverman is the first one to make sure of that." It's a melancholic short piece that doesn't go for easy laughs, but much like the rest of the Safdies' work, takes the downtrodden lives of its protagonist seriously. Though it is pretty fun to see a lot of unsuspecting people in Midtown oblivious to the fact that Sandler is the guy painted in gold.
If you're looking for more to read about the film and the Safdies, I recommend this New Yorker piece on their full-immersion filmmaking; this AV Club interview with them about creating Uncut; the story behind the bedazzled Furby doll; and this Vulture interview with Mitchell and Stewart Wenig, the twins who Howard keeps brushing off throughout the film.
And if you haven't seen it yet, Netflix announced in a since-deleted tweet that the film would be coming to the platform "outside of the U.S.' on January 31st. It's unclear when it would be on there in the U.S., though the tweet did say "coming soon" on that front. (However, A24 has since confirmed that there are no current plans for Uncut Gems on streaming/home entertainment platforms yet.)
Tagged
street performers
Times Square
adam sandler
safdie brothers
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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