Screenplay Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie & Benny Safdie
Directed by Josh & Benny Safdie
*** (three stars)
RATED R
There are often times when I go to the movies when I am just in need of something visceral.
Sometimes it is indeed some kind of shoot-'em-up but usually, when I think of something visceral, I tend to envision some sort of adult drama where the audio/visual/emotional content are all equally firing on all cylinders, reaching peaks that could be considered to being either operatic or even feral in nature. I don't mean a slow burn of a film and I definitely do not mean cerebral. I mean...visceral!!!! Where your nerves are on a knife edge and everything feels like a gut punch.
And even so, there is indeed an art to achieving success with that sort of a film as you need a cinematic storyteller who possesses a sense of rhythm, timing, and nuance to augment and then, enhance the drama thus creating that apex of intensity. With Directors Josh and Benny Safdie's "Uncut Gems," I have to give credit when it is due as the twosome do indeed have the filmmaking and storytelling chops to pull off an experience that can elicit a dramatic effect that is borderline anxiety inducing.
And still, the film did not completely deliver the full effect I think the Safdie brothers wished to accomplish, quite possibly due to their relative filmmaking inexperience when compared to someone with the mountainous legacy of Martin Scorsese, clearly a MAJOR influence. But that being said, "Uncut Gems" is indeed visceral, yet one that is relentlessly pummeling. So much so that you may wish to bring some Tylenol along for the ride.
Set in the year 2012, "Uncut Gems" stars a volcanic Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a Jewish-American jewelry store owner in New York's Diamond District, who is also a gambling addict feverishly trying to pay back escalating debts as well as involved in juggling two volatile relationships: one with his soon to be ex-wife Dinah (Idina Menzel) and Julia (Julia Fox), his mistress and employee.
Around Passover, Howard receives a rock containing a rare Ethiopian black opal (i.e. an "uncut gem") hidden inside of a crate of fish. Estimating its value at $1,000,000, Howard plans to auction the stone and eliminate his debts, which are growing increasingly dire as loan shark Arno (Eric Bogosian) and his quick tempered goons Phil (Keith Williams Richards) and Nico (Tommy Kominik) are rapidly losing patience.
Howard's plans immediately begin to unravel when his friend and associate Demany (Lakeith Stanfield) brings the Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett (playing himself in a surprising, electrifying performance) into the store and Garnett becomes entranced with the rock and opal, imploring that he borrow it for one night to inspire himself for that nights' basketball game.
And with this one moment, Howard Ratner's descent into his voluminous downward spiral only is just beginning...
The Safdie brothers' "Uncut Gems" is indeed strong stuff but not great stuff. That is certainly not for any lack of trying because they are unquestionably swinging for the fences. But that being said, I just felt that these are extremely talented filmmakers who still have much to learn as their film exists as one with considerable force but without a stitch of nuance and dimension.
As previously stated, it is clear that Martin Scorsese is a major influence for the Safdie brothers but more correctly, it felt as if the final third of Scorsese's now iconic "Goodfellas" (1990), the extended sequence where Ray Liotta is strung out on cocaine and insomnia, trying to evade either real or imagined surveillance while also attempting to master that pasta sauce, is the influence.
Much like that section, and even combined with essentially the entirety of Scorsese's "The Wolf Of Wall Street" (2013), it truly felt like that was the inspiring engine of "Uncut Gems" and while appropriately exhausting, the film (aside from a truly terrific final third) as a whole lacked the rhythm, the music of stress inducing cinematic cacophony that can make the most turbulent, nerve wracking sequences just sing and therefore, become exhilarating cinema to behold.
As I regard "Uncut Gems," I am instantly reminded not only of Scorsese's aforementioned work, but also recent films like Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash" (2014) and Craig Gillespie's "I, Tonya" (2017) plus older films like Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" (1997) and "Magnolia" (1999), and even some of Spike Lee's films from "Do The Right Thing" (1989), "Jungle Fever" (1991), "Crooklyn" (1993), "Clockers" (1995) and even more, as they all resoundingly sing with the music contained in the noise of large, over-the-top, passionate lives being lived, fought over and fought for.
All of those films contained a specific ebb and flow in the chaos of their respective stories and styles that gave form, escalation and therefore, truth to the proceedings, allowing the inherent power within each film to rise and grow in intensity and cumulative effects.
The Safdie brothers' "Uncut Gems," however, is a headache inducing barrage of dazzling cinematography courtesy of Darius Khondji, a propulsive electronic pseudo Tangerine Dream score from Composer Daniel Lopatin and furious performances, complete with an endless stream of F bombs and racial epithets and as good as it is, it didn't truly signify much beyond the sheer noise of it all.
Whether through creative intent or by way of the design via sound mixing, "Uncut Gems" is one LOUD movie. So much so that by film's end, I felt as if I had been screamed at continuously for 2 hours and 15 minutes, and no, that is not a good thing. I do deeply appreciate a good "in your face" experience but for this film, there was no ebb and flow as seemingly every single moment within the film functioned at the exact same fever pitch and volume that ultimately kept me at a bit of a distance from fully engaging.
Now, of course, I do have to turn my attention to Adam Sandler, who exactly like the Safdie brothers, has swung for the fences as his performance is truly a grand slam and more than deserving of any attention he receives during awards season. Just as the late, great Roger Ebert once expressed, I also really like Adam Sadler when he is not making "Adam Sandler movies" as he has proven himself to being a skilled dramatic actor in a series of compelling performances in varied films like James L. Brooks' "Spanglish" (2004), Mike Binder's "Reign Over Me" (2007) and of course, Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love" (2001).
For "Uncut Gems," the character of Howard Ratner is, at long last, an opportunity for Sandler to flex his creative muscles and he proves himself to being more than up to the task as he unleashes a cauldron of feral energy that is undeniably riveting to watch and wholly magnetic as you are unable to take your eyes away from him regardless of whatever and whomever is around him.
The film's final third, which I have already alluded to, is downright remarkable. Conceptually, the Safdie brothers' story has reached a certain pivotal apex involving the mistress, the loan shark and his goons, a crucial basketball game and there's Adam Sandler delivering a true tour de force of a performance that honestly served as a multi-layered running commentary of the story's events as well as his on-going existential crisis. That was exhilarating as well as brilliantly stress inducing as I also seriously wondered just how many takes did Sandler perform to make this sequence what it is...and furthermore, how did he not spontaneously combust while performing it!
Adam Sandler is absolutely sensational creating one of those larger-than-life, miscreant characters who should not be able to survive even one minute in the world but somehow, by the skin of their teeth or the skill of their rapid fire mouths, somehow lives to scrape through another day...by the skin of their teeth or the skill of their rapid fire mouths. He more than lives up to everything the Safdie brothers throw at him and for that, I do hope the trio will join forced for another film and perhaps, the entire proceedings can be that elusive masterpiece.
The Safide brothers' "Uncut Gems" is a good film. No question. Just one that didn't entirely involve me yet rather, exhausted me from its harshly persistent rancor.
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