Review: Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems (15)

USA 2019 135 mins Dir: Josh and Benny Safdie  Cast: Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch

Probably not best viewed by gambling addicts (unless as part of a carefully mediated therapy/recovery programme) or anyone on medication for stress, the Safdie brothers’ propulsive follow-up to their lauded if little seen Good Time plunges us into its frantic high anxiety drama and doesn’t let up for more than two hours. At its core is a revelatory performance by Adam Sandler – no, really – who appears to be channelling the younger Al Pacino.

Sandler is Jewish New York jeweller Howard Ratner (no nudge-winky association with Gerald intended, apparently). Outwardly successful and prosperous, he has his own high-security outlet in the city’s wealthy diamond district. All of Howard’s problems seem to be of his own making. He spends his days engaged in a reckless high-wire act, dodging heavies employed by his creditors as he triangulates between bookie and pawn shop, siphoning clients’ money into eye-wateringly risky sports bets. When he’s not robbing Peter to pay Paul, he’s pawning Paul’s Rolex and hiding from Peter to avoid using the proceeds to repay his ever-mounting debts

As if that wasn’t enough, he’s a rotten, neglectful father to his three kids, partly because he’s glued to his smartphone watching the games on which his existence hangs by a thread, but also because he’s juggling his contemptuous wife (Menzel) and the mistress (Fox) he keeps stashed in an apartment across town.

But it’s all about to come right for Howard. He’s just taken delivery of a rare black opal of dodgy provenance that he reckons will raise $1m at auction. New client and basketball star Kevin Garnett (playing himself) immediately takes a shine to the gem and asks to hold on to it for luck at his upcoming big game. Howard reluctantly agrees, but demands the sportsman’s distinctive championship ring as collateral. The moment KG leaves, he pawns the ring and uses the proceeds to place a bet on the game. What could possibly go wrong?

Superbly shot on 35mm by master cinematographer Darius Khondji, Uncut Gems has the feel of a lost classic of 70s cinema, from the contstant Altman-esque overlapping conversations to the restless direction that reflects Howard’s desperation to keep all his balls in the air through a combination of bullshit and low cunning. He’s not a nice guy and this clearly isn’t likely to end well for him, but Adam Sandler actually makes you root for the schmuck through the rush of the win and the vein-popping desperation of the crash and burn – even as we’re watching through our fingers with mounting dread. It’s his best performance in nearly 20 years (Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love, since you ask) and almost atones for all those shitty comedies.

The only disappointment here is the score by hip experimentalist Daniel Lopatin, who goes by the name of Oneohtrix Point Never, which slathers the soundtrack in loud electronica that often feels as though it’s been ported in from another film entirely. But there are no complaints about the ending, which is where these films so often go horribly wrong. Without giving anything away, the Safdies really don’t disappoint as they ramp up the tension and deliver a real rug-puller of a last reel twist. Only when the closing credits roll do you realise that you haven’t breathed out for 135 minutes.