Summary:
Howard Ratner, a New York City jeweler and compulsive gambling addict, makes a series of high stakes bets in an attempt to score a huge win, while simultaneously avoiding his bookies, and balancing his wife, kids and his mistress.
My Thoughts:
I’ve only seen “Uncut Gems” twice, but I’m already comfortable with proclaiming that this is one of the best thrillers of the 2010s decade. It’s frenetically paced, gorgeously and viscerally shot, incredibly intense, and it’s the best Adam Sandler performance since “Punch Drunk Love” (if it’s not the best performance of his career). “Uncut Gems” is a master class of innovative filmmaking, one that creates an entire universe around our protagonist; a universe that is as dazzling and exciting as it is terrifying and unforgiving.
“Uncut Gems” freaking rocks.
“This is me. This is how I win.”
Harold Ratner (Adam Sandler, “Punch Drunk Love”) is a jeweler with a serious gambling addiction. He and his wife Dinah (Idina Menzel, “Ralph Breaks the Internet”) are on the fritz because of his affair with his assistant Julia (Julia Fox, forthcoming “PVT CHAT”). Howard receives a visit from Demany (LaKeith Stanfield, “Sorry To Bother You”) and basketball player Kevin Garnett (played by Garnett himself), and Garnett asks to borrow an uncut opal valued at over a million dollars for good luck. Howard reluctantly agrees, even though the opal is due to be auctioned off soon. As his gambling debts start to catch up with him, the man he owes money to, Arno (Eric Bogosian, “Talk Radio”), sends his bodyguards Phil (Keith Williams Richards) and Nico (Tommy Kominik) to collect, and Howard has to scramble to stay ahead of everyone and on top of everything else.
One of the things I loved most about this film was the way that it built the world around Howard’s character. We see almost the whole of this film from Howard’s perspective (beyond a few scenes focusing on Julia and the mining scene in the beginning), and when we start we’re not given any information, we’re just plopped down next to Howard and have to catch on as he runs about his daily business, getting fed small scraps of information as we go. The way the film is structured opens Howard’s character up in layers, making him in turns, likeable and detestable, which makes Howard’s character great; you’re constantly caught between wanting to cheer him on and slap him across the face. He’s likeable in his personality- quick-witted, charismatic, and hard working; but he’s detestable in his actions- he cheats on his wife and still can’t decide between his mistress and her, he constant gambles, and he makes terrible decisions (like loaning Garnett the opal in the first place). The polarizing nature of Howard helps to make this film intense, because you never really know how to feel about the situation before you; you just know that, at any moment, because of the way he lives his life, something bad could happen. It makes for an uncomfortably intense two hours and fifteen minutes, but when I’m looking for a thriller, that’s exactly what I want.
The story itself is just amazing. Much like the way Howard’s character is built in a way that makes him likeable and detestable, this film feels like we’re taking one step forward, two steps backward, two steps forward, one step backward in terms of plot development, which, again, adds to the frenetic nature of the film. Howard is constantly in and out of hot water, but as the film moves past the middle and into the latter half of the second act, Howard winds up in situations that put him in more and more danger on all fronts. He’s not just dealing with bookies and their bodyguards, but he’s dealing with girlfriend/wife issues, he’s trying to attend his daughter Marcel’s (Noa Fisher) school play while dodging gangsters, trying to recover the opal from Garnett so he can get it to the appraisers on time; there’s so much going on, but it’s never hard to tell on what front Howard is being attacked in each scene. Everything that can go wrong seems to go wrong for Howard, but at the same time, even when it does go right, he’s got a way of messing it up, which is part of why I was so torn about rooting for him.
Acting. Dang. I guess once every ten years we need a reminder that Sandler can turn in a great performance if someone gives him a chance. I think this is the best performance of his career, though “Punch Drunk Love” is a very close second. I’m honestly a little upset this film didn’t receive any sort of nominations at the Golden Globes, but I’m hoping Sandler scores his first Oscar nomination for this role (a sentence I never thought I’d type). There’s one sequence in particular where Howard has a breakdown after being beat up and thrown in a fountain in the backroom of his jewelry store, Julia comes in to comfort him even though they’ve been in an argument. Harold just breaks down crying about how nothing is going right for him, and Julia (who was also pretty great in this film) begins to coddle him like a child as he dissolves into a puddle. It’s both hysterical and awful to watch.
To me, the Safdie Brothers (directors of “Heaven Knows What” and “Good Time”) have always felt incredibly visceral, but the way that this story unfolded reminded me a lot of Cassavettes films; this film in particular reminded me a lot of “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie”. Their cinematography in this film in particular is really gritty and visceral- some places Howard frequents look straight up gross- but there are times when the film sort of wades into surrealist territory, and it’s in the blending of those two opposite types of filmmaking- realistic and surreal- where you get the Safdie brothers. I don’t know how else to describe it. They’re some of the only people I’ve seen make films like this, though Gaspar Noe (“Climax”) or Harmony Korine (“Spring Breakers”) could draw some comparison. Their direction made me feel like I was in Harold’s shoes by the end of it. Though it was hard for me to sympathize with him entirely because of his choices, by the end of the film, I felt that gambling rush when Harold decides to bet it all one last time; I wanted him to win, and nothing else in the world mattered.
Verdict:
“Uncut Gems” is easily one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. I’ve seen it twice and I still want to see it again. I’d love for this to see some love at the Oscars, but I honestly don’t know if this is the kind of movie the Academy will honor. Fingers crossed, though, if the movie gods will it, this film could get nominated for Directing, Writing, Acting, Editing, Cinematography, and maybe even Best Picture. This movie is freaking amazing.
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