A tense character piece where the stakes are an addictive high.
What They Say:
A charismatic jeweler makes a high-stakes bet that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. In a precarious high-wire act, he must balance business, family, and adversaries on all sides in pursuit of the ultimate win.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Coming off the solid praise for Good Time, the Safdie Brothers deliver Uncut Gems which they wrote with Ronald Bronstein. I’ve had limited exposure to their films so far but they’re definitely the kind of smaller projects I like and are the things that draw me to distributor A24 in general. The initial trailer was a big draw for me in the style that it put out, the lack of clarity that it really offered, and the fact that we get the generally rare serious Adam Sandler film. I’ve enjoyed a number of his comedies over the years, including the awful ones, but like a lot of film fans I do enjoy when he steps up and puts in for something more meaningful. So that was always going to be a draw with this film when he decides to step away from the safety of his friends that he shoots comedies with. Here, it’s with people that he’s largely not worked with before.
The premise is simple in that he plays Howard Ratner, a jeweler in the diamond district of New York City where he’s got quite the reputation. There’s lot of competition here, a lot of personalities, and a lot of ways to present yourself that will bring in different clients. For Howard, he’s running two distinct scores over the course of the film while others play out alongside them because he’s a gambler with debts that has gotten caught up with some bad people – including his brother-in-law who is a loan shark. That makes family dinners very awkward. The big play that he’s working is an interesting one in that he’s acquired a black opal from Ethiopia that was mined by Jewish Ethiopians. The uncut stone was one that was essentially snuck out of there amid an accident but it doesn’t look like a blood jewel issue. It took ten years from when it was snuck out to when Howard found out about it and started negotiating to acquire it with the intent of auctioning it off for a million dollars. That’s a big score right there.
And that score comes amid family issues where he’s close to divorcing his wife, played by Idina Menzel, and he struggles to connect with his three kids since he spends a lot of his time in the city instead of home in the suburbs. With the pressures there, he’s also facing off against his other big gamble that comes when an associate of his, DEmany, as played by the excellent Lakeith Stanfield, brings in Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics. Garnett is drawn to the opal and Howard sees a way of making some huge bets because of the inside information and prodding he does with Garnett here. If he can make both of these scores, he’ll not only deal with all of his debts but will come out ahead significantly and can finally move on. Largely, it seems, with his girlfriend Julie, as played by Julia Fox. I believe this was her first main role and she nailed it well here, dealing with the way that Howard is all over the map because of the stresses he’s brought on himself. She’s not exactly settling down and committing at the moment which leads to its own issues as well. But like everything else, it really is Howard that is his own worst enemy.
And we see this play out over and over. Every time he has a chance to break even a bit he gambles bigger on what’s to come next, putting himself further in the hole. He sees all sorts of avenues to success and they are open to him but they’re all quick with incredibly low success rates and high risk. If he had focused on the business itself and the less shady side he might have made out better in the long run but without the kind of reward he was dreaming of. Watching as he basically shoots himself in the foot over and over, lashes out, and deals with everyone was frustrating. It’s understandable because he’s stressing himself into an early grave but at the same time you can see better paths for him. But if you’re raised on that kind of New York mindset of success and pushing yourself as far as you can to do so, you get in line with the wrong people. And with the enforcers that are out there that are causing him trouble in a big way, he just keeps pushing them harder and harder.
With the film taking place several years ago, going by both Garnett’s career and the iPhones that are used, it takes a lot of its lessons from the crime films of the 70s era. This was never my favorite era of filmmaking and I’ve got little from then that really resonates with me. But what that era produced were some strong crime films and gritty underbelly type projects that resonate well past when they were produced. The influences are definitely here combined with the way the Safdies work the anxiety of what’s going on. It’s not a slow build kind of thing but rather a constant where you get a few minutes here and there where you, like Howard, forget about it and exist in the moment. It’s why Julia is so important with him and the time with his larger family. But when he senses both betray him in different ways, it ups the anxiety in a huge way and that makes him take bigger risks – with greater rewards and greater dangers. Seeing how he rides this run is fascinating because the floor drops out from under him repeatedly but you’re left wondering how it can end.
In Summary:
Uncut Gems was one of those films you go into not knowing a lot but having certain expectations. I knew what to expect from the Safdies overall and it delivered in spades with a tense movie that’s always trying to hustle and make it work. I also knew that I was going to get a great Adam Sandler performance because when he does step up I don’t think he’s truly failed at all in the past. And he does deliver here, making me eager for the next time he does this in the future. Hopefully, the Safdies will find themselves moving into more front and center projects after this as their reputation increases and I’m definitely hoping to see more of Julia Fox in the future as her performance here was fantastic throughout.
Grade: B+
