Uncut Gems (2019)
Edgy sibling filmmakers Benny and Joshua Safdie had their hearts set on making Uncut Gems shortly after the release of their acclaimed semiautobiographical 2009 dramedy Daddy Long Legs (aka Go Get Some Rosemary). It’s a drama with thriller elements set in Manhattan’s Diamond District, where their father once worked. He would come home and regale them with some crazy stories of what goes on there, especially interacting with New York’s most famous and wealthiest of clientele. Each time they set to make it their next project, they were derailed by other ideas and opportunities that presented themselves. After further making a name for themselves through their quirky but potent indie films, they received funding to make Uncut Gems in 2016, after making Good Time partially through Martin Scorsese’s production company as well as through RT Features. They would be directing from a script they co-wrote with screenwriting partner Ronald Bronstein, revised over the years about 160 times, yet retaining an improvisational feel throughout.
Adam Sandler had been offered the chance to do the film before, starting back in 2010, but his handlers no idea who they were and why they would offer such a script. They returned the script without letting him see it. The story was much different back then, only featuring two characters, an older and a younger man working for a jewelry merchant. Sandler had never heard of the Safdies and declined to play such an unlikable guy in a low-budget drama with subject matter that didn’t appeal to him. Harvey Keitel was then envisioned for the older man and basketball star Amare Stoudemire for the younger, aging up the character for the next revision to get his attention. Keitel had some back and forth with them for a few months, but talks dissipated.
Producer Scott Rudin helped out for a few years later, encouraging the screenwriters to find more humor in their movie and add some jokes. This made it more palatable for a comedic actor they envisioned to play the role. In a later revision, they combined the elements of the two men into one and made the character Jewish, and the opal was brought into the film right off the bat rather than halfway through the story. In 2015, Adam Sandler was approached again but said he was too busy to give it a look.
In 2016, Sacha Baron Cohen was interested in the Jewish jeweler angle, eventually doing a table read for the part, but things never quite panned out. By 2017, after Martin Scorsese signed on the executive produce, Jonah Hill, who worked with Scorsese to acclaim with The Wolf of Wall Street, was attached to take the starring role, with A24 acquiring the distribution rights to this film set in and around Manhattan’s Diamond District. Unfortunately, the Safdies had a hard time trying to reduce the age of their main character in revisions, and, in the interim, Hill moved on to direct a film of his own, Mid-90s followed by Maniac, and was unavailable for some time.
By this point, the Safdies were well known enough to approach Sandler again, who now saw how connected they were with big names like Martin Scorsese and Scott Rudin making films with them, and they wanted him for a role that already had the interest of Sacha Baron Cohen and Jonah Hill. He wasn’t a lock yet, but they did get his attention. With the emphasis on making the film a dark comedy that Sandler could sink his teeth into, he found much more of appeal in the script, especially since they were going to make a push for awards consideration. When he got around to watching their acclaimed prior film, Good Time, he went back to watch all their previous films and loved them. He signed on immediately after that.
Set in 2012, Uncut Gems is a part crime drama and part character study, following the dealings of Howard Ratner, a New York jewelry merchant doing business by appointment in his highly secure private showroom. Not all is peachy-keen in Howard’s life, as his marriage is on the rocks, his mistress has begun to make him feel insecure, his lack of work ethic beginning to sour customers, he might have colon cancer, and his gambling addiction has gotten him into a lot of debt that he can’t pay back quickly. He’s a sucker for get-rich-quick schemes to keep him out of trouble; his latest involved the procuring of a massive uncut Ethiopian black opal that may be worth up to a million dollars.
Enter Boston Celtics star, Kevin Garnett, who takes an immediate interest in purchasing the rare jewel upon seeing it, but is denied a sale because Howard already has it set up to auction within a few days. Garnett ends up borrowing the opal in exchange for one of his championship rings and has one of the best games of his career on the basketball court, making it the good-luck charm he has to have at the tail-end of his career. In the meantime, Howard has ended up pawning off Garnett’s ring and used the money to bet big on Garnett’s performance.
Drawing on techniques they’ve honed from their prior films, the Safdies build upon trying to keep audiences in a state of perpetual discomfort and anticipation, wanting us to feel the desperation for Howard at all times, but also interested in seeing how he might get out of each particular jam. The restless narrative digs into our psyche as we see misery filling up one person’s life but dangling happiness ever so slightly out of reach, making the agony all the more heightened. Howard is not a particularly likable character, earning all of the trouble he is in due to his many character flaws. Yet, there are just enough redeeming qualities to see that he might be able to find a balance if he could get himself on the right track. Unfortunately, the ability to make wise decisions seems elusive.
Sandler says, during their location shoot on 47th Street, that he would observe real diamond district jewelry merchants, both at work and in their home, to get a better sense of his character. They were ecstatic to have their neighborhood spotlighted in a film and opened up to the cast and creative crew. Some of the real-life jewelers appear in the movie in small roles and as extras. Sandler also studied gamblers and their self-destructive habits, particularly regarding what keeps them injecting chaos into their lives in their obsession with the next big wager.
Sandler, who was once told by an NYU acting professor that he should choose a different path, would go on to receive quite a few accolades for his performance, as he did with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. I believe much of the praise coasts on the element of surprise, as Sandler does a respectable job in the performance coming across with a sense of nuance. However, the characterizations in the film don’t run particularly deep. Where Sandler excels is that he takes a thoroughly unlikeable person and finds ways to make us sympathize with his plight of wanting people to be happy around him. Still, his flaws of integrity and selfish impulses get the better of him. The Safdies benefit from what these character actors bring to their respective roles, and Sandler should get some credit for carrying the picture even if he doesn’t light up the screen with a powerhouse turn.
The Safdies continue their habit of unintrusive camera work, often shooting freely while out and about in the actual streets full of real people milling about their business. Cameras were placed in various locations so the actors could walk and talk naturally without worrying about their positions in the shot or in playing toward any particular camera – most often, they weren’t aware of where they were located.
Kevin Garnett does solid work playing a fictionalized version of himself back in 2012 while still an excellent player for the Boston Celtics. The Safdies had also considered Amare Stoudemire (who declined because he didn’t want to cut his hair to what he looked like in his first year with the Knicks in 2010), Kobe Bryant (who was never sent the script after the Safdies learned he wanted to be a director and not an actor), and current Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid (things didn’t work out schedule-wise), so they went with Garnett and had to set the film a few years in the past during the Eastern Conference Semifinals where the Celtics took on the 76ers. Popstar
The Weeknd makes his big-screen debut in a brief but memorable scene playing himself performing in a club. Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd’s real name) is a good friend of the Safdies, and he is an avid film fanatic, so they wrote him into the movie playing a pinkier version of himself as he felt he was back in the day. In the film, he performs a live version of an early track called, “The Morning” before getting into an altercation with a jealous Howie over his mistress.
Speaking of music, some viewers may either be attracted or unnerved by the oversaturated score of Uncut Gems. The Safdies brought in Daniel Lopatin to compose the score, blending in the rarer sound of the Moog One synthesizer. It’s a dizzying work, sometimes feeling unrelated to the drama on the screen, adding an extra layer of chaos to unsettle audiences from the comfort of familiarity.
Like its main character, Uncut Gems will be divisive in terms of likability, particularly among audiences that expect a tidy story with characters they enjoy that build up to a crowd-pleasing finale. As with Punch-Drunk love, which drew in Sandler fans hoping for a typical one of his zany vehicles, there is a bit of a bait-and-switch aspect to Uncut Gems that will make some viewers feel like they aren’t getting what they signed up for. That’s the unfortunate thing about being an actor who has built a brand; once you step out of what your fans are accustomed to seeing, they don’t like it. Like Howard Ratner, Sandler finds himself wanting to break out of boxed-in expectations, but people don’t like him when he does.
Uncut Gems is, appropriately, a bit of a ‘diamond in the rough,’ lengthy and sometimes uneven, but has so many positive facets that hold the attention throughout, even during moments that are a bit hard to watch, mostly because we see Howard make fatal mistakes just when his salvation is within reach. We are drawn to the characters and the ever-escalating sense of stakes, leading to a conclusion that indeed will find many viewers squirming in their seats. It’s uniquely presented and incomparable to anything else currently out there that isn’t already directed by the Safdie brothers.
Qwipster’s rating: A-
MPAA Rated: R for pervasive strong language, violence, some sexual content, and brief drug use
Run time: 135 min.
Cast: Adam Sandler, Idina Menzel, Julia Fox, LaKeith Stanfield, Kevin Garnett, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch, Mike Francesa, Pom Klementieff
Director: Benny Safdie, Joshua Safdie
Screenplay: Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Joshua Safdie