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Boiling Point (Philip Barantini, 2021) is a stressful experience. Like the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems, this is a film that you finish feeling more on edge than you were at its start. Unlike Uncut Gems, however, Barantini’s drama is a thoroughly disciplined piece of work in which no exchange or piece of dialogue feels inconsequential. The entire film takes place at chef Andy’s (Stephen Graham) trendy upmarket London restaurant on a busy night just before Christmas. While Andy assumes the central role, the stories of the staff working in the restaurant and their problematic customers provide engaging subplots. Perhaps Boiling Point’s biggest achievement is the extent to which it invests its audience into these backstories, a feat made even more remarkable as it is often achieved with just a few lines of conversation or an emotive close-up. The performances of Vinette Robinson as the resilient yet exasperated sous chef Carly, and Jason Flemyng as disingenuous celebrity cook Alistair Skye are particularly striking.

This is a “one-shot” movie, filmed in one long continuous take. Productions that choose to adopt this style often fall into the trap of making the technique an overbearing influence. In films such as Birdman and 1917, the one-take element is shoved down your throat. It feels as though it is used as a distraction from their respective vacuousness in terms of plot and character development, a discussion point oasis amongst a barren desert. In Boiling Point, it is barely noticeable, although this is not to say that it is ineffective, far from it. Here, the fluidity of the camerawork facilitates the build-up of tension; it meanders around the restaurant frantically, matching the chaotic psyche of Graham’s protagonist Andy and the hurried physicality of his performance.

Problems stemming from the dining tables accentuate tensions in the kitchen as contrasts are alluded to throughout between front and back of house, highlighting the inner disarray and outward front. Boiling Point leaves little time for reflection as it sizzles along at a frightening pace; quieter periods are made ominous as a result. There’s palpable darkness as the camera swoons from the warm glow of the restaurant to follow a kitchen porter taking out the bins down a darkened alley in real-time, a signifier for later developments. The film deals with social issues such as covert racism with a refreshing deftness, well-acted and scripted exchanges feel poignant and real, full of depth yet swift and un-contrived. My one gripe with the film is that when bubbles do come to the surface, they pop all too quickly.