Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Uncut Gems Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 15, 2020

Though they’re manifestly different films and viewing experiences, for some reason Uncut Gems kind of reminded me of the acclaimed Sidney Lumet film from 1964 starring Rod Steiger in an Academy Award nominated performance as The Pawnbroker. Adam Sandler pretty famously didn’t get an Academy Award nomination for Uncut Gems (a bit more about that below in my final comments), but both films offer disturbing portraits of a troubled individual working in pretty gritty urban conditions, with a prevalent Jewish subtext suffusing part of the plot. In the case of Uncut Gems Sandler portrays Howard Ratner, a jewelry dealer in New York’s so-called Diamond District. Howard is revealed rather quickly to be pretty seriously in debt to his brother-in-law Arno (Eric Bogosian), who is intent enough on recouping his funds that he’s sent a couple of collection “goons” to Howard’s shop to threaten Howard. Howard also has a gambling problem and is in the death throes of his marriage to Dinah (Idina Menzel). As might be gleaned from even this short overview, Uncut Gems is not a potty mouthed comedy a la a number of previous Sandler efforts, and seems designed at least in part to solidify Sandler’s cred as a serious dramatic actor. In that regard at least, it probably succeeds, though the film has a kind of sleazy, smarmy ambience, along with a take no prisoners style that is downright chaotic a lot of the time, that may not sit well with some viewers.

There are a couple of real life people who show up as supporting players in Uncut Gems, and it’s kind of amazing in a way that co-writers and co-directors Josh and Benny Safdie were able to procure their services, especially since both of them might be perceived to be, if not less than honorable, then at least having at times questionable judgment in the film. The biggest real life supporting player is Kevin Garnett, the legendary power forward for the Boston Celtics, who here plays (at least a version of) himself, who is a friend of Howard’s assistant and customer procurer Demany (Lakeith Stanfield). Garnett happens to be in Howard’s shop the day that Howard receives a bit of precious contraband stuffed inside a frozen fish, from Ethiopia of all places. It’s an incredibly valuable chunk of opal, a luminescent piece of fire encased in rock which is actually “introduced” in the film’s opening sequence where a bit of camera trickery delves “inside” the glowing jewel, travels a ways through shimmering colors, and then “exits” as the film shifts to video being taken during Howard’s colonoscopy. There’s probably some subtext there that’s worth exploring, but I’ll leave it to a wiser analyst than I.

Garnett takes a liking to the opal and in a bit of logic defiance, Howard agrees to “lend” the jewel to the basketball titan as a kind of good luck charm, even though Howard has already scheduled the opal to be sold at auction in a couple of days. That one decision sets off a cataclysm of cascading domino effects, however, with Howard scheming how to make a fortune off of betting on Garnett’s performance on the court, something that ultimately gets him in even more trouble with Arno, and perhaps more saliently, with Arno's thug enforcers.

Meanwhile, Howard’s personal life is also detailed with some particular acuity, documenting his faltering marriage with Dinah, as well as his affair with his employee Julia (Julia Fox). And in fact it’s with regard to Julia that the second “special guest star”, The Weeknd, is kind of shoehorned into the proceedings, in a sequence that at the very least gets two of the famous trifecta of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll into the story.

This film can probably fairly accurately be described as relentlessly frenetic, not just in terms of its seemingly inexorably tragic story but also it's cartwheeling visual style and a soundtrack that is almost overpowering at times. I also felt like the narrative could have been judiciously trimmed to create an even more effective impact (the film clocks in at well over two hours). As such, this may not be an "easy" watch (or listen), but it's viscerally compelling and certainly does in fact give Sandler substantial gravitas as an effective dramatic actor.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf liked Uncut Gems even more than I did. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

Uncut Gems Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Uncut Gems is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. As is disclosed in the final credits roll, this was shot on Kodak 35 mm film, and according to the IMDb, everything was finished at a 4K DI. This is an intentionally gritty looking enterprise that frequently exploits so-called "jiggly cam", with a handheld style that may tend to deflate fine detail levels at times simply because the frame doesn't stay stationary long enough to see fine detail. That one stylistic anomaly aside, this is a fantastically organic looking presentation, with natural looking resolution of a sometimes pretty thick grain field. There are some selected scenes that are either graded or lit in a variety of evocative tones, and there are some really interesting oranges and blues in particular, notably in some of the nightlife or game scenes. Speaking of games, it looks like some of the basketball footage is uprezzed from standard definition (some of it appears on television screens). There is some occasional very minor crush in some of the darkest scenes.

Uncut Gems Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Uncut Gems features an at times overwhelming DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 that offers a glut of overlapping dialogue and effects that some may find exhausting. This is a film that, sonically speaking, kind of grabs the listener by the earlobes and never lets go. As such, there's such a constant flow of surround activity that some brief respites (as in the first real scene between Howard and Julia in the bedroom) can seem like audio oases. The film (which evidently had a Dolby Atmos theatrical exhibition, as evidenced by the closing credits roll) does offer a glut of urban ambient environmental sounds, but there are also recurrent uses of discrete channels for individual effects. Dialogue is generally presented cleanly, if not always clearly as there's an almost Howard Hawksian tendency toward multiple simultaneous conversations that take place. The one potential deficit here may be a relative absence of low end (there are some bursts here and there), but for a dialogue driven film like this, it wasn't a deal killer for me personally.

Uncut Gems Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Money on the Street: The Making of Uncut Gems (1080p; 30:30) is an above average featurette with a wealth of interviews, including both Safdie brothers, Adam Sandler and Idina Menzel, along with some fun candid footage. Some of this occasionally seems curiously low res, I'm thinking maybe it was captured on the fly by a phone.

Uncut Gems Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Adam Sandler kind of infamously ripped the Academy Awards a new one in his scabrous acceptance speech for Best Actor at the Independent Spirit Awards (warning that the linked video is most definitely not safe for work). Maybe Sandler would like to turn his hilarious ire toward A24 and/or Lionsgate, since the studios really don't seem to be marketing the film very aggressively, at least as evidenced by the fact that I received not one word of public relations hype from either A24's or Lionsgate's usual suspects either about Uncut Gems' theatrical exhibition or (more importantly with regard to this review) its release on Blu-ray. That seems downright odd for a film that has received the acclaim that this one has, but that said, Uncut Gems is probably not a film for everyone, and maybe not even for the "traditional" Sandler fan who may have a desire for loads of juvenile humor. Sandler is riveting in this film, but the film itself is kind of noisy and unfocused some of the time, though it builds to an appropriately shattering climax. Technical merits are solid, and with caveats duly noted, especially for those unwilling to just surrender to the unabashed almost manic fury of this film, Uncut Gems comes Recommended.