Uncut Gems, written –with Ronald Bronstein – and directed by Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie - Eight out of 10

Uncut Gems, written –with Ronald Bronstein – and directed by Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie

Eight out of 10

Perhaps because the undersigned is not a fan of Adam Sandler – actually, the opposite is true – he disagrees with the astounding Metascore of 90 assigned to this motion picture, which means that most relevant critics see it as almost perfect and although that seems somewhat or completely farfetched, we could probably all agree that this is more than remarkable and that may be due in large part to the sensational, original script and the role that the leading actor has to play, dramatic as against his usual, over the top comedy performances that could be so annoying…

The description of the movie has Howard Ratner aka Adam Sandler as a ‘charismatic jeweler’, but if you ask this cinephile, the main character is anything but charismatic, except for his lover – his wife, who is separating and divorcing from him declares at one point that she cannot stand him and she wishes she would not see him ever again and that wish might be granted – indeed, it seems the film has a fabulous crescendo, in which we seem to know that this guy has it coming for him and it would be untruthful and yet so typical of Hollywood at the same time to have him escape serious harm at the hands of the aggravated, furious people and their hit men nonetheless…

Ratner is not charming, he is so foolish and suicidal as to become annoying, for within the family, he has failed in his marriage, cheating on his wife with an employee – thus committing other offences, creating a conflict of interest to add to a long series of immoral, illegal, dangerous, crooked acts – feeding an addiction to gambling by taking money from loan sharks, placing property he does not own with pawn shops, enticing an NBA player to become obsessed with an Uncut Gem, an opal that is supposed to fetch more than one million dollars at an action…

Throughout the movie, the antihero is chased by the men working for those who have to get money back from him and he is kicked in the throat, twice then punched in the face and then he might have to endure even more, for he keeps pushing and then after he would not give the money he owes, whatever he cashes in, he makes disappear, then traps the hit men in something like a glass cage and all this is not comedy, those people do not have a laugh, the exact opposite happens and they grow ever more frustrated, furious beyond their boiling point and a major breakdown might take place…

Supposedly, the jeweler has a solution for all these problems, for he has a special treasure coming from Ethiopian Jews, at least this is what he claims, and that special rock has many carats and is worth more than a million – causing the NBA player to interview the antihero at one stage on what he had paid for it – allegedly it was one hundred thousand dollars – and thus he is challenged on the huge profit he is making towards the million that he is anticipating and Ratner says that 100 k means 50 lifetimes for those people there and then they move to what NBA pays and finally to the bets for the upcoming game…

Seeing as the basketball star is fascinated with the opals, the jeweler claims that he would fetch an extraordinary price at an upcoming auction, but because the athlete wants it badly, he can have it for some time and he would leave his special trophy ring, which the antihero would immediately pawn down, because he is playing this death game in which he gambles, takes loans, needs to gamble some more to pay back and he ends up in a vicious circle or spiral that may take him down, wins or losses in financial terms, he looks like he fails otherwise, expect for the girl that may love him – she tattoos his name on her posterior – but when in one of the night clubs, she still appears to forget about him and get too close, maybe even intimate, it was hard to tell for this viewer – who was not so absorbed as to notice all the moves of these crazy people – with someone else.

When the auction finally takes place, the man in trouble – we might find some similarities with Snatch, though apart from the Jewish jewelers and the precious stone, the rest is naturally very different – is first trying to pressure the woman working at the auction house to jack up the starting price, making fake claims, then he uses one of his relatives to artificially bid against the NBA player, in order to bring him up to the 200,000 level, only failing in that endeavor for the athlete stops just short of the planned landmark, causing a financial and physical catastrophe perhaps for the crooked, Trump-like character.

Everything seems to be crumbling down and on top of the gambling man, when a glimmer of hope shines in the dark, for the NBA star is still interested in buying the treasure, albeit he does have a speech and dressing down in which he expresses his deep frustration with the Joker – did you think I will not notice this…what was that all about at the auction, you played with me man, you wanted to hook me up and more words to that effect, up to the point where he hands over the bag with money, but the hit men are outside the office, within the jewel store, where we can all see them and they are pushing and waiting for the money, for which they have already kicked the debtor a few times, they have once undressed him and naked as he was, he had had to call and have – was it his spouse – someone unlock the car, for he had been locked in the boot…

Whenever it seems there is no escape, the gambler takes another plunge, daring and looking at extinction or at the very least serious bodily harm and tries yet another alterative, such as when he locks the team that is there to obliterate him if he does not cough up the money and waits to see the results of his latest gambling enterprise…

The ending, which we can talk about(?) is fantastic in that we do not see it in movies which overwhelmingly end with stereotypes and clichés, only this one is brave, creative and does not offer the déjà vu…it is a stunning conclusion, appropriate and life like…