[TIFF 2019] REVIEW: ‘Uncut Gems’ unleashes cosmic chaos in the Diamond District
Adam Sandler as Howard Rattner in Uncut Gems, directed by Josh and Benny Safdie.
As the opening credits begin to appear in Uncut Gems, the camera takes us on a breakneck spiral into a geological wonder. A rare black opal is unearthed in Ethiopia, and as we tumble into it, fractals of brilliant colour zoom past until they begin to look like galaxies forming in deep space.
Not only does the tumultuous imagery inform the million-dollar value of the stone that soon becomes the MacGuffin of the movie, it echoes one of the other introductory sequences of the film: an anarchic tour of the part of New York known as the Diamond District, as Howard Rattner (Adam Sandler) makes his rounds between his creditors, bookies, and competitors in the jewelry trade. Everywhere Howard goes is a riot of emotion and crosstalk: boasts and deals are made, and (less frequently) apologies are offered. Just as you need a lot of pressure and energy to ignite a star, or to form a gemstone, it’s clear that you need something similar (albeit on a more human scale) to survive in Howard’s world.
Howard has carved out a lucrative (if risky) niche for himself in the gem business. Out of a tiny showroom, he caters to elite athletes and musicians, relying more on word-of-mouth and under-the-table deals than marketing campaigns or commercial products. But Howard is clearly overextended financially. He’s the kind of guy who will take an athlete’s championship ring as a security, pawn it temporarily at a competitor’s store, and sink all the money into risky sports bets, all while he has gangsters tailing him for unpaid debts. On top of that, he’s splitting his time with his family in a fancy house in the suburbs and with a mistress in a luxurious apartment in the city.
So it’s not surprising when Howard goes all-in on what he hopes will be the major score that cancels out his liabilities: the aforementioned opal, still embedded in the rock it was found in, which Howard hopes to put on auction. But of course, Howard isn’t the kind of guy who would safely lock up his find. He wants to impress his clients and his rivals, leading him to loan the opal to Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett (playing himself) as a good-luck charm, which in turn sets off a frantic chain of events that are tragic one moment, and hilarious the next.
It’s tempting to call the movie a non-stop caper, but in Howard’s case there might be some wheezing and breaks along the way. Nevertheless, the rhythm of Uncut Gems will be familiar to anyone who saw Good Time, the previous movie by Josh and Benny Safdie. In fact, it’s not hard to imagine Robert Pattinson’s character in Good Time, a scuzzy and strung-out small-time thief, crossing paths with Howard Rattner at some point. Despite the many balls the Safdie brothers keep in the air during Uncut Gems, they don’t lose sight of the bigger performance; watching the film is often like watching a someone juggle flaming chainsaws while balancing on a unicycle above a pit of alligators, all while being verbally abused.
Regardless of how you feel about Adam Sandler’s work with Netflix (or his crass multiplex output before that) we’re definitely getting more of the Punch-Drunk Love-style, Sandler-as-serious-actor experience here. That’s pretty much the only version of him I’ll watch, and I’m frequently mystified about why he doesn’t do it more often. Along with Sandler is a strong supporting cast, including Judd Hirsch, Idina Menzel, and LaKeith Stanfield, as well as a couple of impressive first-timers: Julia Fox as Howard’s girlfriend, and Keith Williams Richards as a volatile thug.
Each character does a little bit to chip away at Howard’s sanity, pushing him to make one last bet. Importantly, it’s a play that has more to do with harnessing the opal’s ephemeral, mystical powers as a confidence booster than it does with unlocking the gem’s monetary value. And Howard soon realizes that even when a bet like that results in a big win, the universe has a way of introducing some more chaos to even the scales. In the cosmic terms referenced by the filmmakers, it’s just when you get a thriving civilization going on a planet that the asteroid hits.
With Uncut Gems, the Safdies have once again improved on their previous work, cementing that they are talents to watch in the coming years. They seem to preserve a style of moviemaking that becomes rarer by the day, while also uncovering hidden secrets as they go. That title is looking more accurate the longer I look at it.
Uncut Gems gets three and a half stars out of four.
Stray thoughts
Little things like the time period and the type of gem show some great attention to detail.
Is the opening scene at the mine a brief reference to Godfrey Reggio’s Qatsi trilogy?
The soundtrack and score were also outstanding.