UNCUT GEMS: My Favorite Aristotelian Tragedy

Rating: 💎💸💎💸💎💸💎💸

To say I had high expectations for this film would be an understatement. To say it met them would be one as well. 

I can’t lie, though: there were some concerns. What if, after Heaven Knows What and Good Time, the Safdie brothers’ style would grow stale? What if I, noted Safdie stan, had romanticized the filmmakers, put them on a pedestal? From all the lore and trivia I’ve absorbed over the years, I knew they had been working on the script for a decade, interrupted by the aforementioned masterpieces. Production ended over a year ago, and when we finally got a release date with the official trailer this September, I couldn’t believe I would have to wait another 3 months. The buildup could certainly have led to crushing disappointment, but instead, I found myself again blown away by the Safdies. This film feels like the conclusion of a New York City trilogy, yet another gritty and glimmering glimpse into the chaotic beauty of the everyday.

The elusivity and gratification that this film represents to me is mirrored within the story itself. Howard Ratner, our tragic hero (played to perfection by Adam Sandler [and if you’re surprised by his talent, please revisit Punch-Drunk Love]), prizes that uncut gem, a rare black opal, not only for its worth, but for what it took to get ahold of it. When he shows the titular gem to Kevin Garnett, it’s not just the size or the beauty that he boasts about, but the rarity, and the many months spent acquiring it. 

As a tragic hero should, Howard has a hamartia, that fatal flaw that causes his eventual demise. On the surface, it seems like his biggest sin is greed, or maybe adultery, but by the time we get the iconic speech — ”This is how I win,” he grins through tinted glasses and the now-infamous goatee — we understand that while he loves money, and loves his younger girlfriend, Howard’s driving force is risk and reward. The theater, a chorus to this film’s Greek tragedy, groaned in unison every time Howard made another bet, our collective ass on the edge of our seat. Even when this man can finally get away clean, even when it seems like things can settle down, he consciously chooses to risk it all again. 

The film supplies the adrenaline that Howard craves. Between the constant dialogue and the constant score and the constant camera movement, the viewer feels trapped in the film’s world, a place that’s beautiful and dangerous and overwhelming. Like Howard, we can never truly get settled in, alternately laughing and shaking our heads and gasping and wringing our hands. Once again, they’ve managed to put something seemingly ordinary under a magnifying glass and shown us the microcosm inside. 

There’s more I could praise--the casting (choosing mostly amateur actors, one of the Safdies’ trademarks, increases the realism in a surreal world), the score (by Oneohtrix Point Never, who composed Good Time’s score as well), the performances by everyone from Kevin Garnett to Lakeith Stanfield to Julia Fox, but ultimately, I encourage you to see this film and form your own opinions. You may find something to connect with, or maybe not, but you’ll at least get to see Adam Sandler fight The Weeknd.