Directed by Ben & Joshua
Safdie
* * * *
Howard Ratner, Adam Sandler’s
character in Uncut Gems, dons
something of a mask, one that doesn’t so much conceal his face as much as his
person. It is a mask of glitz, characterized by gaudy eyeglasses and tacky jewelry
including diamond earrings and gold necklaces. A pedestrian glance at him would
allow dismissal as a shallow, materialistic showoff with nothing else going in
his life. I don’t deny this as fact when discussing Howard, but look deeper into
his face – his eyes are hollow and weary, revealing desperate exhaustion. His
inner being pleads for a way out, but a lifetime of greed and fortune has
permanently trapped him.
Howard is a jeweler in New York
City, one with a gambling addiction that’s spiraling out of control, owing
money apparently all over town (he cannot walk anywhere without being hounded
by somebody about his dues). Life at home doesn’t bring him much rest – his wife
(Idina Menzel) makes no secret of her hatred for him (his affair with a sexy
coworker, played by Julia Fox, doesn’t help much). At this moment, though,
Howard couldn’t care less; he has just received an uncut opal from Ethiopia,
allegedly worth a million, which immediately catches the interest of Celtics
basketball star Kevin Garnett, who convinces Howard to borrow it for tonight’s
game as a good luck charm. What could possibly go wrong? Well…to say where it
goes from there would simply spoil the experience, which would be nothing short
of a crime.
Make no mistake, though; Howard’s
dilemma is not likely to end well. It is a plight that tortures the viewer for
over 2 hours, a depth-charge nosedive into a blackened pit that does have an end
(one of rock bottom oblivion, no less), but the journey to that bottom
stretches and spins to a dizzying, anxiety-inducing eternity. How will it all end?
How out of control will it get? Despite an overall idea of the ultimate
outcome, Uncut Gems keeps its viewers gripped hook, line, and sinker
from start to finish, and the end result is one of 2019’s most memorable and
intense films, as well as a startlingly profound study on the corruptive power
of greed with an appropriate sense of humor peppered throughout.
Uncut Gems is the kind
of film that never shuts up. Every minute, somebody needs to know where the
money is, where somebody important is, where the jewelry is, and so on. The
stakes are raised higher and higher, and the viewer is never allowed solace
from the chaos. When the film quiets down, the trouble at hand never leaves the
racing minds of Howard or the audience, and the immersion we get into Howard’s shoes
is masterful – it’s the kind of movie that will demand a cigarette afterward. Don’t
you dare take a break during the movie, though.
I’ve never been a big sports
guy, and basketball plays a big part in Uncut
Gems, but the method of incorporation
is brilliantly played out. The film takes place in 2012, featuring actual games
from that time. Those unfamiliar with those games will naturally be on edge, anticipating
the outcome of the game itself. Basketball fans, knowing the outcome, will be
left even more curious how Howard’s fortune will turn out. It’s one of the most
genius uses of real events I’ve seen, and it’s perfectly encapsulated in the
final act, which ironically turns the simple act of spectating into the tensest
moment of the movie.
There was a trend in indie cinema
some time ago, where all one had to do was shoot their film handheld and it was
immediately indie/artsy/etc. It is a trend that got old really fast, but that
doesn’t mean handheld can’t be utilized well. A perfect case study in that
regard is Uncut Gems. Cinematographer Darius Khondji shoots the
action in handheld, usually in very tight close-ups, and its powerfully
stressful. When the camera goes wide, we get a pedestrian perspective that humiliates
the characters, alongside a gritty depiction of New York that reminds us of the
seedy underbelly that lies between the hip townhouses.
We’ve been ignoring the
elephant in the room for far too long, the main reason to watch Uncut Gems: Adam Sandler. While dramatic territory is rare for Sandler, it is not
new, but Uncut Gems has been getting particular praise in the
case of Sandler’s performance. Believe the hype. Like Travis Bickle and Ratso
Rizzo, Howard Ratner will be a gritty New Yorker known to movie lovers for
years to come, and this is thanks to Sandler’s complete and total commitment to
his performance, complimented by a refreshing sincerity: not once does this
feel like a vanity project for Sandler. That said, while Sandler does take center-stage,
the rest of the cast is exceptional. The wonderful resting bitch-face
of Idina Menzel, the underrated Eric Bogosian as a loan shark, and Kevin
Garnett as himself are especially deserving of recognition.
What a time we live in. By
2011, Sandler already had an awful reputation when he contaminated cinema with Jack and Jill, which has already gone down in history as one of the worst films of all
time. Here we are in 2019, with only a week left of the decade, and one
wouldn’t even fathom Sandler as capable of such garbage after witnessing this. Uncut Gems wisely avoids
over-capitalizing on this rare gem in Sandler’s track record, but there’s a
line seemingly directed at the Sandler-weary audience (curiously featured in
the trailer) where Howard, begging for his wife’s forgiveness, utters the
following sentence:
“Please…gimme another shot.”
