Uncut Gems
Directed by: Benny & Josh Safdie
Written by: Benny & Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein
Starring: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, LaKeith Stanfield, Eric Bogosian, Kevin Garnett, The Weeknd, Idina Menzel, Judd Hirsch
Comedy/Crime/Drama - 135 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 23 Dec 2019
Written by: Benny & Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein
Starring: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, LaKeith Stanfield, Eric Bogosian, Kevin Garnett, The Weeknd, Idina Menzel, Judd Hirsch
Comedy/Crime/Drama - 135 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 23 Dec 2019
Howard Ratner is a walking heart attack. He may feel like he thrives bobbing and weaving the way he does, but spend any amount of time with the man, and the heart attack may be your own. Every conversation is a shouting match. Every decision is spur of the moment. Howard may be a candidate for most unlikable film character ever if not for the hint of mental illness hovering around him. We are not rooting so much for Howard’s gambling bets to come through or that he sell a particular gemstone for an egregious amount at auction, but rooting for him to sit down and take a nap, at least a few deep breaths. I have a hunch Howard would physically collapse if he had a normal day to navigate, one which included putting the kids on the bus, paying some bills, and filing paperwork.
The Safdie brothers, Benny and Josh, are setting a trademark on gritty, urban atmospheres - always gray and shabby. Their film leads are not guys who can carry forth a coherent conversation. Uncut Gems's look, feel, and pacing is quite close to 2017’s Good Time, where the brothers had Robert Pattinson running around New York City juggling schemes and hare-brained con artist moves resulting in anything but a good time. Howard Ratner makes that guy look like a three-toed sloth. Howard (Adam Sandler, Pixels) hustles so many people at once, it may border on a mental illness compulsion rather than gurgling forth from malicious intent. He must push it; he cannot stop himself. The audience realizes if he just took a breath and operated like a normal business man, then every now and again he would be just fine. But he needs to be on the edge, and the Safdie brothers need him to go even farther.
The Safdie brothers, Benny and Josh, are setting a trademark on gritty, urban atmospheres - always gray and shabby. Their film leads are not guys who can carry forth a coherent conversation. Uncut Gems's look, feel, and pacing is quite close to 2017’s Good Time, where the brothers had Robert Pattinson running around New York City juggling schemes and hare-brained con artist moves resulting in anything but a good time. Howard Ratner makes that guy look like a three-toed sloth. Howard (Adam Sandler, Pixels) hustles so many people at once, it may border on a mental illness compulsion rather than gurgling forth from malicious intent. He must push it; he cannot stop himself. The audience realizes if he just took a breath and operated like a normal business man, then every now and again he would be just fine. But he needs to be on the edge, and the Safdie brothers need him to go even farther.
Everything is now. There is no past and no future - only the immediate score. It produces a physiological reaction while sitting in a movie theater watching it. Everyone was jittery. I had to get up and pace afterward in the lobby. My heartbeat felt fast and this is from not even liking Howard. His compulsions are reminiscent of Philip Seymour Hoffman's in 2003's Owning Mahowny, a man who needed to lose. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in cinema, Mahowny goes up millions, but can only feel something as he watches it catastrophically leave his grasp. It's possible Howard exists on a similar spectrum. If it doesn't come through in the nick of time and set at least three other parts of his life back a few steps, then it's not the life he wants to live.
The Safie brothers chose to set the film in 2012. Kevin Garnett still plays for the Boston Celtics and is in the middle of a playoff series against the 76ers. The Weeknd is still an up and coming musician about to break though on popular radio. A world away in an Ethiopian mine, upset and exploited miners rail against their masters while an enigmatic rock winds its way from down below, into a container, and finally into Howard’s clutches. The rock, which may or may not be worth a fortune, is no longer an aesthetically-pleasing mineral, but is now a status symbol for those who troll New York’s Diamond District to show off the latest over-the-top bling at the club tonight. The clientele is more concerned with carats then culture.
Howard believes in the stone. It is set to run at auction, but Kevin Garnett takes a shine to it - its presence enhances his acumen on the basketball court. With this inside information, Howard is in a position to place some shrewd bets on the upcoming games, bets which look more than foolhardy on the outside. Also, Howard is in hock to every bookie in town. Dozens of thugs hound his every move from his place of business to his kid’s school play. Howard barely notices. Getting stripped naked, tied up, and left in his trunk is actually not the weirdest thing which can happen to him in a day. His romantic life is just as chaotic. Howard and his wife remain pretend married for the kids, but Howard is usually with Julia (Julia Fox), when they aren’t screaming at each other on the street.
Nothing in Howard’s life is thought out in advance. At the family’s Passover seder, he asks his wife (Idina Menzel, Frozen II) if they should get back together. It’s obvious to both of them this is an impromptu proposition, one which Howard just thought of and will most likely forget he even asked in the next 10 seconds. Uncut Gems may be the work of gifted directors and Adam Sandler gives his best performance since Punch Drunk Love, but none of that makes it any easier to endure. It’s like watching a line of cocaine try and walk, talk, and think. Movies are supposed to move you, but this is a different sort of movement. This is pushing and shoving - a rare kind of cinematic assault and battery on your senses. The Safdie brothers turned down Hollywood’s offer of a superhero film to do this and we’re all the better for it. It’s better to experience this visceral, in-your-face experiment rather than succumb to the next chapter of some franchise. But whew, throttle back Howard.
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