Who boy this film. So I know it came out a while ago, and everyone was like, “oh my god you totally have to see Uncut Gems, it’s like, so good and like, Adam Sandler is so good and you gotta see it oh my god!” and I honestly don’t know why I never got around to seeing it. Then my local theater was screening it, so I figured, why the hell not.
As an aside, shoutout to Balboa Theater, yo. Real MVPs for playing great films. And the audience was great- real quiet, no one did anything obnoxious, cleaned up their messes. Big difference from when I saw that new King Kong/Godzilla movie. The family to the left of me brought three kids, which is fine, but those kids all brought toys that had speakers and lit up, and they didn’t stop playing with them. The dad was pacing for the first half trying to calm down the kids, then snoring once they shut the fuck up. The family to the right of me kept taking photos with the flash on and talking loudly. They both left huge messes. Anyway.
I have to warn you, Uncut Gems is not for everybody. It’s a tense, face paced, loud film. It completely overloads all of your senses with color, lights, dialogue, information, and sounds. It’s a completely chaotic cacophony of pulse-inducing tension. The main character, Howard, is this erratic gambling addict who makes tons of shitty decisions all in the pursuit of his high. It reminded me a lot of The Old Man and the Sea, by Earnest Hemingway. The main character pursues their goal through storms and obstacles, through blinding pain and bleeding limb, and can cut and run at any point. The endings aren’t the same, and the protagonists are inherently different, but still. Howard is a jewelry salesman, and was probably very good at one point, but is far past his prime- or he’s just a liar who got rich by the skin of teeth and his luck finally ran out. Speaking of luck, the man spends all his luck gambling, and none of it actually getting to enjoy it. That’s not to say that the film is just about a guy in poor circumstances. He’s a Jack Sparrow-esque habit of double dealing and juggling many balls in the air is dizzying and confusing, and sometimes a bit difficult to keep track of. The film mirrors its turbulent protagonist, using all its functions dialed to an 11. The film uses its cuts in an effective way, throwing us back and forth between whatever action needs our focus, overlapping its sounds and dialogues amplified further by its high-strung New Yorkers, then bombards us with its soundtrack in moments of reprieve. The filmmakers knew what they were doing, and like Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell, lets us sit with the emotions before and after the film in a dreamy, otherworldly sequence that goads us to think about our own place in the universe. The film’s pace isn’t just fast, it’s goddamn breakneck, with every moment rushing past you like a gust of wind that buffets your eardrums, characters that feel like nails on a chalkboard, and no matter how hard you try to deny it, a sense that you want Howard to succeed. And that’s incredible, because that’s Howard’s whole design. A man who pulls people into his world with his fast-talking fuck-you gravitas, dragging people in kicking and screaming who later thank him for his business. Then, he leaves you hanging, frantically moving onto his next fix. Howard leaves a trail of dissatisfied, frustrated characters in his wake. And, when the credits role, we’re simply asked to stand in line with all the other complainants, left with a hole in our chest which we’d filled with emotions of disdain and love for Howard.
Uncut Gems is an incredible film, but it’s also so tension inducing and so goddamn much, that I don’t want to recommend it without warning you what the film will be like. It’s like an episode of a daytime cartoon show, where the main characters are routinely one-upped and lose out at the end of the episode, leaving a bitter taste in your mouth and a ringing in your ears. Is the film good? Fuck yes. Should you see it?
YMMV.
Wondering how my rating system works? Let me explain!
PS if you’re wondering why I neglected to add paragraphs for much of this review, then it is likely you may not enjoy this movie.
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