Uncut Gems

It's a bit of a paradox that this hyperkinetic street thriller actually feels anachronistic today, because it actually tells a story set against the backdrop of old New York City, the face of which has been heavily transformed over the past decade to suit the lifestyle of young yuppies, giving the whole glorious big-city street-life a pretty big beating. Even as a kind of reminiscence of those times, we can enjoy the depth and muted colours of a thirty-five-millimeter film in the hands of the most talented, Darius Khondji, who desaturated the colors of, for example, The City of Lost Children or Se7en. It's ironic that the Safdie bros meet exactly the demands of a predatory young directorial duo, but that's mainly because of how they ignore the formal developments within the last, say, fifteen years, after the widespread advent of digital. (03/22/2021)

A treat for the connoisseur. Bursting with energy, like a roller coaster ride, extremely immersive, with a hypnotic soundtrack. The vast majority of today's mainstream cinema has been boring me for the last few years because it's so predictable and formulaic in its approach, so I’m grateful for any film that manages to surprise, goes its own way, and yet is so different, distinctive, and doesn't care that only a small group of viewers will appreciate it. Safdie Bros, thank you so much! I thought I'd never see anything like this in today's deluge of Marvel and comic book crap. And Sandler, as much as I don’t like him, was fantastic here. (02/04/2020)

Uncut Gems is almost unpleasant to watch. A spiral of self-destruction (with the very best intentions, of course) with the excellent Sandler in the lead role. The incredible pressure of an evil and raucous world conveyed through the “hero" to the viewer with unbelievable intensity. Lies, crooked deals, basketball, gambling, infidelity and contempt and the entire world plotting against one person who deserves it like no other (but you’ll still be keeping your fingers crossed for him at the end). A morality tale about gambling and something extra, and a reflection of modern times. (02/04/2020)

An uncompromising, frenetically edited dialogue cannonade, focusing on a narrow time span in the main character's life. Similar in concept and similarly frantic and unhinged as Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth. The essential difference is that while Phone Booth switches to a "meaningful" conclusion at the end and touches on the emotional arc of realizing life's mistakes and wrong actions, the protagonist in Uncut Gems has nothing of the sort, so we need to look at other parameters. For example, the haunting soundtrack, Sandler in a very atypical role for him as a Jewish merchant, Julia Fox (hopefully she'll get more roles), and the convoluted, volatile but well thought out story. A small, controversial film for connoisseurs who appreciate a filmmaker’s unconventional approach. (03/14/2020)

It’s a pack of lies. The protagonist ("hero"), played really well by Adam Sandler, lies from start to finish, makes excuses, cheats, makes false promises, pulls the wool over people's eyes, balks... I can't say he's particularly good at it, but he certainly does it so intensely and automatically that he's actually lying to himself, even though he doesn't know it. Watching him get tangled up in his own webs was no particular pleasure for me, and I couldn't even get attached to any other character, because they're all just lying in this movie. All of them. All the time. Still, it gradually won me over, and the riveting final half hour finally earned it that fifth star. (02/01/2020)