Uncut Gems: Crafted Chaos
After finishing Josh and Benny Safdie’s latest fast paced thriller, I felt a whole host of feelings. I was tired, I felt physically bruised, I was mentally drained and my heart was beating faster than a school alarm bell. But I fucking loved it.
The Safdie brothers have yet again achieved their goal of injecting adrenaline into their films. Or if someone were to ask me what a film on cocaine looked like, i’d tell them to watch Good Time or this. The Safdie brothers crafting of such adrenaline fuelled work is impressive and incredible.
The casting choices for this film were perfect. Adam Sandler managed to ground a character who could, on paper, seem a caricature. He brings to life Howard, a jewellery wheeler dealer with a gambling problem, and who is in serious debt with the mob. In fact, the Safdie brothers cast him intentionally, hand picking Sandler due to his relatability and likeability, and how he can make even the most ridiculous scenarios seem real. And casting ex-gangsters and real life people, such as basketball player KG, heightens the reality of what’s happening on screen.
Their script is as frantic as the film. Characters talking over each other with fast paced speech, and scenes that don’t go from 1 to 100, but start at 100 and stay there. From start to finish the film does not let you go. You almost feel, like with Good Time, that you are the one experiencing it all, the stress of the situations seeping through the screen.
The directing from the Safdie brothers is, again, mesmerising. Correct me if i’m wrong but I don’t recall too many, if any, static shots. They are all, or at least mostly, handheld or Steadicam. Scenes with the nature that the ones the Safdie brothers have written require directing and camera work to back it up - and they do that and more. Shot on film, it gives the story a grungy-ness akin to that of 70’s and 80's thrillers, such as Taxi Driver. The blocking of the all scenes has characters moving around small spaces, often moving past the camera.
It’s all so busy, but it’s all so intentional.
Howard may be an unlikeable guy most of the time, but Sandler and the Safdie brothers make us root for him, making the climax of the film that much more intense. And by the time the credits roll, you won’t be able forget it.
Uncut Gems is crafted chaos if I’ve ever seen it, and it’s a masterpiece.