Taking center stage of the dark morality play, our main figure driving the film forward is Howard Ratner, a silver-tongued, smarmy jewelry dealer in New York's Diamond District. At the beginning of the movie, Howard seems to be the type of man who has it all. He's a seemingly respectable businessman, living a seemingly happy life, raising three children with his wife Dinah (Idina Menzel), and from first impressions feels like a charismatic person. But peel back the facade, and it's a lot less charming. He's an ill-tempered man with compulsive gambling habits, engaged in an extended love affair with one of his employees (Julia Fox), and finds himself deep with sharks, owing a hefty $100,000 dollar debt. Needless to say, Howard is not in a good place.
And honestly, it isn't an entirely undeserved situation for him. In order to truly accept the film, one must also accept just what a despicable human being Howard is. Throughout the film, he becomes obsessed with the huge return on investment surrounding a costly Ethiopian opal, that becomes representative of his obsession with always being at the top, and rivaling the stone from Parasite in its corrupting influence. At every opportunity, he has every chance of ending his debts and coming out clean, with a bevy of options afforded to him. As Howard is also a massive sports fan, it should seem downright cosmic that Kevin Garnett (excellently playing a darker interpretation of himself) becomes similarly obsessed with it, even offering to buy it outright from him. Were it not for Howard's hubris.
At the center of its character study, the film shows Howard as being a man, simply put, who thrives from a knife to his throat. It's fitting that Howard should be such a huge fan of basketball, given what a taxing, often intense back and forth it can be, because it's his life in a nutshell. He lives for the risk, and finds life in the danger, viewing himself as some plucky underdog, rather than the greedy leech he is. Essentially, we're offered a glimpse into the dark side of gambling, where very wager becomes the equivalent to chipping away pieces of one's soul, one little bit at a time. It's a crippling addiction encouraged by our society, where the dollar is an idol to be worshipped, and to have more, and to fight for more, breeds a toxic hierarchy placing a chokehold on others beneath.
It's touches like that which make Uncut Gems like a lost Scorsese-drama (who incidentally has an executive producer credit), but directors Josh and Benny Safdie, between this and their previous hit Good Time, feel more appropriately like this generation's Coen Brothers. They're incredible, meticulous, and nerve-wracking masters of their craft, unafraid to pit us headfirst into the seedy neon hellscape of New York, and even at their most dialogue heavy (oftentimes with several characters overlapping, yet at no point does it feel incomprehensible), are experts at ratcheting the anxiety meter to 10. If not in fear for Howard's safety, then often out of the startling escalation of the stakes. Also helping them are the impressive skills of their cast, with strong supporting turns from Lakeith Stanfield, Eric Bogosian, and especially newcomer Julia Fox who steals the show every time she appears.
But for any of this movie to work depends on the skill of its main performer, Howard brought to life by a virtuoso Adam Sandler, in not only the best performance of his career, but a contender for performance of the year. Despite seeming like a caricature of a human being, Sandler always ensures something human and grounded to the character, his obsession bearing tangible credence to present day entitlement. Sandler strives to make Howard an eminently compelling and oddly charismatic person, and achieves it in the most snake-like precision, always tinged with opportunistic venom. As someone who's always secretly rooted for Sandler to have another big dramatic hit, this is the tour de force showcase I always knew he was capable of, and it may be one to truly change how viewers perceive him from now on.
So it can't be said enough that I recommend Uncut Gems. As an introduction to the Safdie Brothers, I immediately understood why the pair are so well regarded, and I've already put Good Time very high on my watchlist. Uncut Gems is not always a pleasant sit, but it is one of the most watchable, bold, and exciting movies of the year, one that I'm eager to revisit later on.
***** / *****
No comments:
Post a Comment