So much has happened in the month and a half since the American premiere in December of the brilliant Uncut Gems (a film NOT based on any book) and its release yesterday on Netflix Spain (titled Diamantes en bruto, a critical success on FilmAffinity with a 7,2 rating) . Filmgoers have had time to see that Adam Sandler's performance in The Meyerowitz Stories was no fluke: the guy is on track to pull off a textbook Matthew McConaughey-style comeback, without any explanation. He's the only star in the Uncut Gems cast who truly shines. Comments aside, besides being a great actor (and unleashing all his rage in his most famous characters), Adam Sandler has decided to start reading scripts before accepting projects.
Criticism and opinion of Rough diamonds (uncut gems)
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Unfairly overlooked in the 2020 Oscar nominations , Uncut Gems (we much prefer the original title) is a prodigious burst of freshness and strangeness. We were warned about this, and now we can finally confirm it. Uncut Gems is the first major cinematic delight of 2020. A must-see.
That said, it's not a movie for everyone. Many people will find it overwhelming, over-paced, and overloaded with hostile moments. The truth is that it is a film that does not give rest to the viewer.
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What a marvel it is to be surprised by a film. How magnificent, the parade of calamitous brutality (set to the kaleidoscopic soundtrack of Oneohtrix Point Never) that erupts from every scene of Uncut Gems. The film offers the viewer no respite, plunging them into a war of overlapping dialogue and debts to be collected in the streets and hidden corners of Manhattan's little-explored Diamond District.
The formula for Uncut Gems contains dangerous thugs, precious stones, imitation Rolexes, miserable blacks, millionaire blacks, gambling addiction, Jews counting chickpeas, luxury apartments in Manhattan, pretty girls, unstructured lives and, in the middle, between Kevin Garnett and The Weeknd , an idiosyncratic protagonist , named Howard Ratner, whom it is impossible not to pity.
You have to be a real jerk to have everything Howard has and yet live such a miserable life. That's what the film seems to be telling us. And maybe it is. Or maybe it isn't. Without exaggeration, the critical reaction to Uncut Gems could be compared to that of Parasite. And, in a way, its content (though not its plot) is similar.
In terms of plot freshness, Uncut Gems shares similarities with Parasite. However, in terms of approach, they couldn't be more different. Uncut Gems seems to offer little in the way of a moral lesson ( Parasite does, although it allows us to choose sides ; Parasite is overflowing with messages and morals).
Parasite is a very expensive Swiss watch. Uncut Gems is a gold-encrusted watch with a speaker, each piece a different color. Everything is jumbled and jumbled, but it still tells time.
The Safie brothers and the love for detail in Uncut Gems
The Safdie brothers are the directors and screenwriters, having waited patiently for over 10 years to film the project (they initially considered the recently deceased Kobe Bryant for the role that ultimately went to Kevin Garnett). Previously, they shone with Good Time , another film centered on a hustler, in which we already see in Robert Pattinson a seed of that same limping, impulsive existence that dominates the life of the protagonist in Uncut Gems.
In Uncut Gems, there are many moments that happen for no apparent reason. The opening scene in Africa is perfectly removable, and the film would still make sense. The same goes for the colonoscopy scene or the little smile on the face of the jewelry workshop worker as he watches a small fish being rescued from poisoning. However, all of these elements add dimension to the chaos. Uncut Gems is full of little details that, despite providing context, defy one of the basic rules of filmmaking: if it's not essential to the story, cut it.
These brief glimpses work wonders here in creating a believable atmosphere in the style of Vladimir Nabokov: by leaving everything saturated with detail. A morbid attention to detail in every location and in every line of dialogue that each character hurls in Howard Ratner's face. The soul of this project; there isn't a single scene without his ugly mug on screen.
Huge performance by Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems
Adam Sandler is still funny. But not in that way. It's enigmatic how, just a few minutes into the film, we've already managed to forgive (and forget) the enormous list of missteps that have built his career. Although everything revolves around him, the supporting characters have great depth. Notice how the youngest son always seems happy and carefree; how the protagonist's girlfriend is, deep down, a good girl who even seems to love Howard for who he is.
His character is everything. Thanks to the incredibly clever use of close-ups (sometimes even selective blurring to convey how clouded the world around him appears), we better understand his constant swings between anger, jubilation, fear, frenzy, madness, and so on. And his delivery, his gait, his tears, and the way he rejoices when life smiles upon him… the immense Adam Sandler.
Uncut Gems is captivating and never has a dull moment. The film presents us with a glimpse into a vibrant universe that pulsates with its own rules and rhythms. Privileged individuals are immersed in the bitterness of not quite having it all, just like everyone else. Uncut Gems presents us with a parade of elements brimming with promising questions, with scenes that are sometimes conveniently drawn out beyond the norm. Ben and Joshua Safdie manage to avoid clichés in at least four or five situations where the viewer feels they are smarter than the creators of this unusual cinematic gem.
9/10