dam Sandler’s greatest strength is his flair for the ridiculous.
It doesn’t matter if he’s blue-suited anger bomb Barry Egan
in Punch-Drunk Love or garbling buffoon Bobby Boucher
Jr in The Waterboy – a problem is a problem is a problem,
and his characters, a motley crew of outcasts, weirdos and
nasal-voiced nobodies, tend to have a lot of them. He cut his teeth as a
comedian on variety sketch show Saturday Night Live alongside the likes
of Phil Hartman and Chris Farley, before transitioning into a career as the
King of Lowbrow Comedy which made him a beloved bannerman for the
North American nebbish. Sandler sceptics cite his ‘serious’ work with Paul
Thomas Anderson and Noah Baumbach as proof of a talent that is rarely
exploited to its full potential, but there’s no need to hold up evidence as
part of this thesis. If you know, you know. He’s a gifted performer, and
when he deigns to channel that into a project as masterfully constructed
as Josh and Benny Safdie’s Uncut Gems, the results are nothing short
of dazzling.A decade ago, fresh off their second feature Daddy Longlegs, the Safdie
brothers tried to convince Sandler to star in their next movie. It was a long
shot, given their lack of credentials – they were small time indie directors
with just two features under their belts – and predictably, the conversation
was shut down pretty quickly. (Sandler went on to make Jack and Jill,
and sign a multi million-dollar deal with streaming service Netflix.)
In 2017, after their frenetic Queens runaround Good Time took Cannes
(and, later, the world) by storm, Sandler became aware of their work, and
now, a project some 10 years in the making arrives fully-formed and ready
to shake down audiences with all the gusto of a debt collector who’s fast
running out of patience.It’s important to note this because it would be inaccurate to suggest
anything about Uncut Gems is left to chance. Its frantic energy gives it a
feeling of looseness, but this is precision-engineered filmmaking which
creates that staggering illusion. In fact, it’s only on repeat viewings thatyou really gain a sense of just how meticulous the film is; the first time
around, it feels like sensory overload. The intoxicating score by Daniel
Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) is a shape-shifting chimera. It draws
inspiration from mid-noughties club tracks through to choral interludes,
and in the sumptuous production and costume design there’s enough
gold, silver and precious stones to put the Tower of London’s collection to
shame. Add to the mix high-stakes gambling, mounting debts with circling
loan sharks, a complicated domestic situation, and a smuggled Ethiopian
black opal, and you have a recipe for exhilarating, unbridled disaster. Sandler, as always, is at the heart of the chaos. As New York diamond
dealer Howard Ratner, his uniform is striking: rimless Cartier glasses, a
Ferragamo logo belt, Gucci horsebit loafers. He looks put together, if not
anachronistic – a relic of old money who’s either unconcerned with or
unable to keep up with the latest trends. He has a beautiful soon-to-be-
ex-wife named Dinah (Idina Menzel), and three kids, who live in a plush
mini-mansion in Long Island, while Howard works in Manhattan selling
jewellery to basketball players and entertains a sweet romance with
employee, Julia (Julia Fox). But Ratner, like all of the Safdies’ struggling
protagonists, is paddling frantically to keep his head above water. Like deadbeat dad Lenny in Daddy Longlegs, helpless drug addict Harley
in Heaven Knows What, and impetuous crim Connie in Good Time,
Howard is a deeply desperate individual. A crippling gambling addiction
has landed him over $100k in hock to various creditors, all of whom are
closing in on him. As the net tightens, Howard devises a scheme to strike
it rich: he imports a rarer-than-rare black opal from Jewish Ethiopians
who work in the Welo Mine, and plans to sell it off to the highest bidder.
The Safdies, alongside co-writer Ronald Bronstein, are uniquely skilled
when it comes to inventing protagonists who remain empathetic even
when they’re unlikable. We understand Howard’s thought processes,
even when we might despise him, and Sandler – King of the Underdogs
for so long it’s sometimes easy to forget he’s now worth half a billionUncut Gems
A
Directed by BENNY AND JOSH SAFDIE
Starring ADAM SANDLER, JULIA FOX, KEVIN GARNETT
Released JANUARY TBC008 LEAD REVIEWMr Sandman brings us a dream with his hypnotic turn as a
fatalistic Jewish jeweller whose gambling addiction takes on an
almost surreal dimension.