A24 continues its hot-streak with Uncut Gems; they have truly blown me away by the quality of their films. Adam Sandler also blew me away. Seriously, where did this performance come from? Uncut Gems is a 135-minute stress test.
Starting with my positives, my biggest one has to be the aforementioned Sandler. He was truly great in this film. He showed a great range of emotions throughout the film's run-time. His character, Howard Ratner, is a terrible person. However, we still support and emphasize with this character. This is completely due to Sandler's performance; he has enough charm to keep the audience cheering for him. I also have to give major credit to the directors, the Safdie brothers. They put on a master-class on tension-building. The third act of Uncut Gems truly rivals Joker's. This act, as well as the rest of the film, had me on the edge of my seat multiple times. This film made watching an NBA game nearly a matter of life-and-death. The ending of the film is also incredibly bold. I respect the hell out of it. As for supporting actors, I was pleasantly surprised. Former Celtic's all-star, Kevin Garnett, is surprisingly solid as an actor. Even though he is playing himself, Garnett was still surprisingly good. Julia Fox was also great in her first major role. I was surprised to find out that this was her first feature. The camera work added to the film's great tension-building. The way the camera would glide back-and-forth to follow characters in claustrophobic settings was brilliant. The sound design was also great. There are many instances of characters shouting over each other, causing you to feel what the characters are feeling. Uncut Gems is extremely well-paced. Even though it's extremely fast-paced, it never feels as if it's moving too fast.
I don't have any major negatives. I feel as if the antagonists aren't fleshed-out enough, however. They are too unrealistic if we're being honest. These two are just constantly out for blood. I also thought that there were some odd music choices to score some scenes.
In conclusion, Uncut Gems was a fantastic film that is nail-bitingly tense. Sandler's performance should not be overlooked come Oscar-season.
8.5/10
Comments