Forget thrillers and horror movies. What you really need is the "Anxiety" genre. This is my unpopular opinion of the day: Adam Sandler has completely redeemed himself through Uncut Gems. Whether you hate the Waterboy for his mediocre acting or love him out of pity, Adam has really shown us what he can do when the stars align.
"You a Jew again?" Right from the beginning of the trailer, the Safdie Brothers have one mission - to make you feel uncomfortable. By the time the two and a half minutes trailer ends, you already are having palpitations. If you think trailers are meant to grab attention, wait till you watch the movie.
Hats off to the approach the Safdie brothers took. They have carefully torn down what makes a person feel uncomfortable and used it to their advantage to create an immensely mentally torturing and tiring movie.
In Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler plays Howard, a Jewish jeweler who also has a gambling problem. The movie is set in a time period where he is also going through so many other problems including husband and wife issues, hot side-piece issues, family acknowledgment issues, and debt. However, his problems are about to come to ease when he finds this gigantic rock worth a lot of money...but loses it and the story of the movie takes shape.
Adam Sandler is notorious for not taking his roles too seriously. He is hated a lot since he doesn't put too much effort into his character and rather just plays the role given and goes back home with a paycheck. Unlike many actors who go deep into method acting or constantly improvise their lines, Adam isn't even picky about his roles. But, Uncut Gems showed us what Adam can really do when he is given a serious character.
The movie is unnerving, uncomfortable, eerie, and leaves all your nerve endings pulsating simultaneously. But trust me, nothing, and absolutely nothing will prepare you for the trainwreck of an ending the Safdie brothers have concocted.
I tried to break down what really made the movie so uncomfortable. I wanted to understand what was giving me so much anxiety. It took me a few rewatches before I realized it was the genius of the Safdie brothers.
The movie may come off as a story based on a real event. However, it is not. It is purely fictional. That is the strongest factor in play that makes it such an intense and heart-racing movie. And to obtain this twist between reality and fiction, the Safdie brother used some very neat tricks.
Every movie's storyline feels very unidirectional compared to Uncut Gems. The unidirectional story development always reminds us that the story is fictional, because, life isn't unidirectional. Uncut Gems breaks this barrier by adding numerous possibilities of story development. Howard is bombarded with problems left and right, just like with anyone in real life.
Howard seems to constantly battle his way through these problems. Always running around like a headless chicken to find solutions to one problem while the other uncountable problems keep knocking him on the head. As he approaches to the solution of one issue, the other problems pile up and fall on him...and then we are at square 0 again.
The soundtrack is painful. Music apart, the characters feel very unscripted. There is constant shouting, arguing, and talking over each other. It is unpeaceful and very uncomfortable. The audience is forced to concentrate to find the dialogues they want to listen to and keep track of what's happening. With every line shouted out the movie gets more and more intense.
For a moment, I could picture myself in Howard's shoes. It's as if you are constantly struggling to voice your opinion, and at the same time defend your opinion against someone else's louder obnoxious opinion. You always seem lost in the movie, just as much as Howard is. Problems left and right, solutions in sight but unreachable, and your guilty pleasure making everything worse - Uncut Gems in a nutshell...or maybe the story of your life.
Howard is an incompetent, imperfect, problem magnet. But all his problems are somehow the direct results of his actions. It somehow makes you root for him. Instead of cursing him for all the things he is doing wrong, I somehow found myself hoping Howard would catch a sweet little break.
"Just let one thing go good!" Don't you say that to yourself? Well, you will be saying that a lot for Howard in the movie. Adam has this charm in his eyes and way of talking that even when he is messing up, you can't help but cheer for him. It is a seriously good casting job.
Other new actors like The Weekend and Julia Fox also did very well in the movie. Julia plays Howard's side chick. She is caught by Howard in a bathroom stall with Weekend and you think that's it for her. But she really surprises the audience and her character development is phenomenal, just as is her acting! I would love to see her in more movies.
The entirety of the 2 hours of Uncut Gems is a rollercoaster that only sinks deeper and deeper. It keeps you anxious the entire time, both because of the story and the Safdie brothers' genius tricks. It is a fast-paced movie with many moving parts around the protagonist. The ending is either the most exciting or the most underwhelming ending I have seen. I am yet to decide. But it lets you breathe for the first time. It is as if you can finally lay down in peace.
Won't watch it again!
I say that in the best way possible.
Affiliate links
Exode
Huobi. Earn upto $170 with my link.
Appics
Splinterlands
Actifit
Binance
Ionomy
Cryptex