The most exhausting film I've seen in years. The cinematic equivalent of four cups of double espresso, I didn't even bother even trying to sleep after downing Uncut Gems late one night. Directed by the two Safdie Brothers, it often felt like I was watching two films that had been made at the same time. Or do I mean two films at 2X speed?
Whatever clumsy metaphor you choose to adopt, however, the unavoidable effect of the film's finely-tuned chaos is an uncompromising and anxiety-inducing piece of cinema. The plot follows Howard as a man lost to his countless vices -- mostly gambling with adultery as a significant side hustle, but you get the impression he would like anything at all that might give him another high. A true junkie's junkie, you might say. You know right from the beginning it's going to end in some kind of disaster, the only question remaining is precisely what.
Portrayed by an (almost unrecognisable) Adam Sandler, there's an uncanny distance in the emotional chasm between 'Sandler-as-junkie' and 'Sandler-as-star-of-goofy-comedies'. Yet instead of distracting from and reducing the film's affect, this intertextuality somehow adds to the finely controlled mayhem. My heart races just at the memory.
What irks me about the tension in Uncut Gems is that it feels facile, cruel, and manipulative. To focus on a character so relentlessly and stupidly self-destructive and have the audience share in his frenzy, just for it all to end exactly as you’d expect—this film may look and feel like an audacious shake-up of American indie cinema, but to me, it amounted to little more than empty provocation. I didn’t and still don’t see the point of its irony and braggadocio.
— Manuela Lazic (The Ringer)
Synopsis: A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.