DO NOT CROSS HERE IF SPOILERS OFFEND
DO NOT CROSS HERE IF SPOILERS OFFEND
DO NOT CROSS HERE IF SPOILERS OFFEND
Uncut Gems
Nick de Semlyen:There’s a good reason why
this movie is set in 2012 rather than the present
day — the two pivotal basketball games actually
happened, and went down exactly like they do
on screen. The fi rst was Game 3 of the Eastern
Conference Semi-fi nals, won by the Boston
Celtics (and in the fi lm almost, but not quite,
netting Howard a huge payday). The climactic
NBA showdown, meanwhile, did indeed see
Kevin Garnett propel the Celtics to victory,
even if the post-game interview we see wasn’t
recorded at the time. Josh and Benny Safdie
shrewdly intertwine their story developmentswith things that happened eight years ago; as
meta-plotting goes, it’s a slam dunk.Alex Godfrey: You don’t have to be au fait with
US basketball players to enjoy Kevin Garnett’s
performance. The former NBA champion is not
just a supporting character but one of the fi lm’s
major antagonists (to be fair, practically everyone
in Uncut Gems is an antagonist), and he is superb,
obsessed with the opal, determined to have
it as soon as he’s laid eyes on it. As a genuine
basketball legend, though, he brings even more
authenticity to a fi lm dripping with the stuff.1 THE OPAL
2 THE BASKETBALL
Above: NBA star Kevin Garnett bids for the opal.
Left: Howard marvels at the precious stone.Here: New York jeweller/gambler Howard Ratner
(Adam Sandler) gets down to business.Alex Godfrey: The key gem in Uncut Gems is
more than a MacGuffi n. It’s a divine trick. A test.
Howard Ratner, played by Adam Sandler, who’s
done all the legwork to get hold of the Ethiopian
black opal, hopes it will change his life. It defi nitely
does that. As writer-directors the Safdie brothers
were wondering which stone to feature while
writing the fi lm, Ethiopia began talking up their
black opals, which were said to bring good luck
— naturally this made sense for Howard’s story,
on top of the fact that the vibrant colours were
so visible in the stones. In the fi lm, the Safdies
bless the opal with magic realism — perfect for
a man who attracts a beautiful, swirling chaos.