HOWARD!
Uncut Gems has been a film to grow and expand since debuting at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival. Easily becoming A24’s biggest awards season play. The Safdie Brothers are back after their 2016 breakout hit Good Time.
This time following a man named Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) who runs a jewelry store in New York’s Diamond District. Howard is generally liked by everyone, but also has a habit of pissing people off, constantly placing bets and making gambles, often at the expense of others. This has led Howard to a rough spot as he owes his brother-in-law Arno (Eric Bogosian) quite a bit of money in debts.
Howard finally seems to have a clear path to getting the money he needs, having recently purchased an uncut piece of Opal from Ethiopia. Which he thinks could get him over a million dollars at an upcoming auction. Despite this clear path to the money – once NBA player Kevin Garnett falls in love with the piece feeling it will give him good luck – Howard can’t help but lend him the jewel for one night. With the promise that Garnett will return it the following morning.
The next morning comes, but Howard isn’t given back his jewel. This starts a chain reaction of horrible decisions and bets that Howard hopes will bring him good fortune, and prove to everyone that he has the situation under control.
If there is one word to properly describe the experience of Uncut Gems, it would have to be assaulting. Every part of this movie is assaulting and uncomfortable, being easily one of the hardest movies of the year to sit through. The movie constantly puts so much on the audience, without ever giving too much time for them to stop and catch their breath.
The clearest example of this would be the sound mixing and dialogue. From the very start of the film, there is almost continuous noise interrupting itself time and time again. From a unique and potent score to an almost headache-inducing amount of yelling, that is often played over another. This film rarely has a quiet moment in fact. Where this might be a complaint to some, it does work quite effectively with the tone and impact this film is trying to offer.
Even more than in Good Time, this film by design is trying to be a messy ride of poor decisions, that are supposed to be uneasy and unpleasant. You hate the experience of seeing Howard make horrible choice after horrible choice. Burning every bridge he possibly can.
The aforementioned sound design effectively puts you on edge. It is unrelenting in the best of ways, and this movie wouldn’t have worked as well without it. Some films have a wall that only some will be able to get over, and this easily is the biggest wall audiences are going to have to jump over with Uncut Gems.
From a plot perspective, Uncut Gems is very reminiscent of The Safdie Brothers’ last film Good Time. Although the characters and situations are different, the idea of someone falling down an inescapable rabbit hole due to their nature, no matter how innocent that nature, is prime Safdies. Similar to Connie from Good Time, Howard is not necessarily a good person. He does horrible things and constantly makes the worst decision he can. Yet also seeing the consequences he faces you can’t help but empathize to a point with his character.
More than anyone, it is clear that Howard wants out of these horrible situations he is getting himself into. But there is something inside of him that keeps throwing him back into them. You ride the highs and lows of what Howard goes through, almost surprising you at times by how much you care about the character.
The biggest talking point and awards potential that this movie has easily is Adam Sandler’s performance as Howard. Sandler is one of those actors who gets a bad persona surrounding him due to his comedic outings. Yet time and time again he proves that when given a serious role with something to chew on he is one of the most competent and impressive actors working today.
He has stolen the show before in films like The Meyerowitz Stories. His performance is not only filled to the brim with charisma and personality, but has some powerhouse scenes of emotion and regret. This is the part of the performance and character that makes Howard stand out so much as well rounded and captivating. He is suffering on the inside, and when that comes through, he can no longer shut that out – it really does hurt.
Uncut Gems is far from an easy watch, and may divide audiences. This was a roller-coaster, that fully worked and engaged me, whether it was the highs of highs or the lowest of drops. This is loud and obnoxious, but also penetrating, creating one of the best characters of the year in Howard.
