Uncut Gems
Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie
Adam Sandler has never worked for me. My experiences with his comedies are almost entirely negative (though my memory of seeing Jack and Jill on an outing with some friends back in grade six is tinged with fondness), and he has actively hindered my enjoyment of films like Punch-Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories. Something about his smug demeanour and pathetic, man-child rage has always irritated me and stopped me feeling any compassion towards him.
Enter Uncut Gems, a film that takes these very components of Sandler’s screen presence and builds a symphony around them. Not only does Sandler work, he delivers one of my favourite lead performances in recent memory, bringing exactly what is needed to Howard Ratner to make him every bit as magnetic as the Safdie brothers want him to be.
Howard is the hyperbolic extreme of somebody who does not know when to stop, whose endless and single-minded pursuit of winning becomes his sole reason for being. Yet I found it impossible not to root for him, not to admire his determination and confidence and his ability to somehow stay afloat despite digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole (to mix metaphors). I don’t think Howard is necessarily a good person. He is selfish and manipulative, using others as a means to an end. And he is blinded by his unwavering belief in his own potential (and desire) for success. But we are all dreamers and gamblers to an extent, and it’s hard not to be won over by his charisma, or affected by his lowest moments seized by crippling self-doubt, or invested in his stakes at the very least. Besides, I think the film is exploring some fascinating ideas about value, the worth of people and things and the drive that burns within people to “win”, and Howard is the human manifestation of these ideas. The psychedelic sequences that bookend the film, visually merging the almost mythical radiance of the titular gems with the literal genetic makeup of Howard’s body, are deeply resonant — not to mention they look unbelievably cool.
I get the feeling there’s a lot in here about the Jewish-American experience that I’m far too ill-equipped to unpack (Howard’s line, “I thought we were supposed to be the chosen people!” is particularly loaded) but I appreciate the time given to Howard’s heritage if only for the fact that it fleshes out his character and the New York world of the film.
I love how well-realised the setting is, especially in the casting of the web of side characters Howard meets. They all have such amazing faces — it reminded me a lot of Michael Mann’s casting for mobsters and criminals: people with distinct, idiosyncratic appearances that really add to their presence and the overall immersion.
Even on a solely visceral level, this is a turbo-charged adrenaline rush of a movie; a film so tense that it made a non-fidgeter like me lean forward in my chair and wring my hands in anxiety. It’s also hilarious, not only due to Sandler’s performance but the manic energy imbued in every scene, with a profane, crackling script characterised by overlapping dialogue that throws you in the room with these characters, makes you laugh and stresses you out.
And oh, that SCORE! Oneohtrix Point Never’s pulsing, operatic, synth-noir sonic tapestry — like if Tangerine Dream wrote the score for Akira — is absolutely heavenly, and further cements this film as an instant classic in my eyes.
Verdict: 4.5/5
(Uncut Gems is available to stream on Netflix.)
Review written by Shea Gallagher
