Uncut Gems (2019) Review

“Let’s fucking bet on this”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Some can say that the best examples of a movie that inflicts stress would be something unpredictable. For me, I can say one out of the unordinary called Uncut Gems. 


PLOT


The 2019 film takes place May 2012 and follows jeweler Howard Ratner. He is a gambling addict that does live with his wife Dinah and their three kids in Long Island, but also has an apartment in Manhattan with his mistress and KMH employee Julia De Fiore. He also owes $100,000 from his brother in-law Arno Moradian, who's a loan shark. He used the money to purchase and smuggle a black opal from Ethiopia and is confident to sell it in an auction for $1 million, but must deal with Arno's goons, Phil & Nico (Tommy Kominik), to accost at his shop. His associate Demany introduces him to basketball star Kevin Garnett who becomes enamored with the opal that he convinces him to borrow it for good luck during a playoff game. As collateral, he pawns his 2008 championship ring for collateral. Howard then pawns the ring for the sake of his addiction and bets a six way parlay worth $600,000 for Garnett to play well. KG does dominate, but doesn't return the opal yet. When attending his daughter's school play, he gets ambushed by Arno who lectures him of reckless spending and announces he stopped his bet. He ends the night punishing by stripping him of his clothes and locking him in the trunk of his car, forcing to call Dinah for help. The following night, he meets Demany at a nightclub hoping to get the opal back, only to be infuriated KG still has it. Anger only worsens for him when he catches in the bathroom selling drugs to up and coming recording artist, Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd, Presuming that she was cheating on him, he demands her to leave the apartment. The following morning, KG does return the opal but vows to buy it at the auction. Howard then berates Demany for allowing him to hold it for so long, resulting in him to end their business relationship by trashing his office. At Passover family dinner, he tries to reconcile with Dinah but she doesn't express interest since she intends to divorce him. Even after checking the apartment to confirm Julia left like he told him. On the day of the auction, he values it up to $155,000 and convinces his father in law to Gooey (Judd Hirsch) to drive up the bids, but it causes KG to back out. With this plan backfiring, Arno has his goons assault him outside the auction house. When Howard returns to work, he feels hopeless until Julia reconciles with him and KG buys the opal for $165,000. He does in turn give back the '08 ring and exchanges his '73 Knicks ring at the pawn shop. However, his addiction gets to him again and he makes a new parlay-bet with the money he's supposed to give Arno. While this does motivate KG to dominate his next game, Arno returns with Phil & Nico threaten him the money. Rather than back out of the bet, he has Julia help place it at Mohegan Sun Casino and he hold the loan sharks in his security doors, forcing them to watch the game with him. When Phil threatens to harm his family, he calls Dinah and convinces her to get the kids out of the house, lying of a gas leak. KG ends up doing so well that Howard ends up earning $1.2 million. Arno would praise him, but Phil would shoot them both and loot the shop alongside Nico. As Dinah calls the police feeling suspicious about her husband's whereabouts, the film ends with Julia collecting Howard's earnings. 


THOUGHTS


After watching Good Time, I became so enamored with the writing/directing duo of the Safdie Brothers, Benny & Josh, that the energy from there matched the quality I expect from the Coens, arguably calling the former my generation of the latter. Having said that, I knew their next film would be an event for me to witness. It was more than that however and was in fact the combination of an anxiety based adrenaline rush of a movie where it makes Good Time look tame. With every second that passes, the combination of Darius Khondji’s cinematography and Ronald Brosntein’s co-editing, you feel every case of intensity that is set with every character and wonder how can it all end. The best part, you can’t guarantee the how this proving incredible originality of the story itself. With such an atmosphere you’re not used to, you start wondering what is the whole point of it. To me, I saw firsthand the consequences of self destructive nature when it comes to having the addiction to be a winner and still want more afterwards. This is perfectly captured from a one man show out of Adam Sandler who in turns lead a great supporting cast. With the 2010s showing way more misses than hits for the actor, I was starting to doubt Sandler could ever bring a performance at the same level of what he did for Punch-Drunk Love. That all changed once he entered and gave a big 180 as Howard. This is one of those lead roles where he’s never gonna be likable because he doesn’t exactly take accountability for his ways/mistakes. You could not stand his impulsiveness because you can already imagine how worse he makes it for himself, being a gambler and doesn’t manage whatever goals he has in mind. I mean you know it don’t feel right to root for a gambler that’s also an unfaithful husband. He may care for his kids, but that’s basically the bare minimum of being a good man. We still sit through the runtime however because we’re all wondering how can he get out of the hole he dug only to see he doesn’t really due to how big it was. Not that you want to root for him, but you just wonder if he can find a resolution at some point. Him dying rich is fitting not because it’s what he wanted, but off of how the consequences were bound to catch up. The signs were honestly all align since he chose to align himself with toxic people. Lakeith Stanfield made Demany a fine example because he comes off collected at first only to prove he’s only in it for himself, thus ending his relationship with Howard explosively. You know there’s no going back if he’s throwing vitamin water into a fish tank out of spite. The only one Howard ironically was on the same page with in comparison is KG himself. It was pretty cool Garnett play a fictional version of himself because he’s far more focused and knows what he wants. As far as materialism goes, he was so obsessed with that opal because he felt connected with it, thus wanting to have it before he can actually buy it. And reasonably, he had the right to share irritation towards Howard he just wanted the deal to be simple. If you ask me, Garnett is the only one to have a happy ending since he gets to enjoy what he wanted. Back to mentioning the wrong connections, it was on Howard to make a deal within his family he couldn’t guarantee getting out of. Eric Bogosian showed off Arno as the only one willing to teach him some kind of control, only to find out he never was since Keith William Richards tops the toxicity as Phil who lacks patience far worse to the point he’s willing to kill to get what he wants. Even after looting the shop, I doubt he’ll be satisfied with whatever he takes. And when it came to finding an equal, Howard never really appreciated having an other half until it was too late. Idina Menzel portrayed Dinah as the only one to root for because she’s visibly tired of Howard’s bullshit that she believes a divorce will help her be a better mom to her kids. That is exactly why she doesn’t budge with him at Passover because she knows better he ain’t gonna change. Then when you look at Julia Fox as Jules, she seems to have integrity on her own but has genuine loyalty towards Howard. She truly believes she loves the guy because she sees he can give her immediate desire, hence tattooing his name on her ass which the actress actually did for-real. Like many viewers, I did ask aloud what is she gonna do with all the money if Howard’s gone. Ironically, Fox herself shared my opinion that Jules gave half of it to his family and kept half for herself. It makes alot of sense for that to be the case because it’s clear she doesn’t want to be remembered as a bad person despite being involved with a married man. So if the Safdies agree with this, then I hope that exchange is smoother than her encounter with The Weeknd. personally believe this is a timeless film of many, but then there were still some things I was scratching my head about upon rewatching. Like I can defend the case Howard should’ve met Demany in the middle with the watches which could’ve made him more cooperative with the opal, but I’m so confused with how Arno was able to stop Howard’s bet without a fuss. Considering how professional the betting host Gary (Mike Francesca) is, I don’t think he’d allow anyone to stop a bet if they’re not even participating in it. And I know Arno wants to teach Howard a lesson on his reckless spending, but he could’ve taken the whole 600 to prove his point instead. And if it’s true bets can be stopped at the last minute, it’s on Howard for not checking in with Gary that it went through or not. It even felt dumb for Demany to meet up with Howard if he doesn’t have the opal. You’re just wasting gas at that point man. Another thing, how was Garnett allowed to go to the auction in the midst of a playoff season? He has morning training for goodness sake, so it’s hard to imagine he’s able to get out of this in the same vein of Dennis Rodman getting away with doing WCW in the late 90s. Ignore these things however, then you’ll still be impressed with the masterpiece intensity that is Uncut Gems. If these are the kind of movies you prefer, see this now.