FILM REVIEW: Uncut Gems (2019)

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.”