WORDS AND INTERVIEW BY CHARLES BRAMESCO ILLUSTRATION BY TAVAN MANEETAPHOosh and Benny Safdie are a couple of real Noo
Yawkahs, so much so that they don’t even pronounce
the term that way. They grew up ferried between Dad’s
in Queens and Mom’s on the Upper West Side, developing
an infatuation with Gotham’s grit and eccentricity that has
informed their vivid body of work. The brothers’ world teems
with crooks, addicts and sleazeballs — off-colour characterssuch as deluxe jeweller Howard Ratner, the antihero played
by Adam Sandler at the heart of their latest and greatest
film, Uncut Gems. Drawing from memories of their father’s
work in the Diamond District, the legend of envelope-pushing
Jew-Ubermensch Al Goldstein and a lifelong passion for pro
basketball, they’ve made the rare Big Apple movie that feels
as hectic and relentless as the city itself.A conversation with the Safdie brothers
on the making of Uncut Gems.
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014 The Uncut Gems Issue