Uncut Gems (2020)

I've now seen the Safdie brothers follow up to their excellent 2017 film Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson, twice. Adam Sandler is insanely good as a jeweler who tries to juggle business, family, and his own out of control gambling, borrowing money to place bets to pay back people he already owes. Uncut Gems is one of the most stressful films I can remember seeing, as Sandler flies from one disastrous decision to another (a bit like his film choices up to now) and the pace doesn't let up until the credits role. His character, Howard, is utterly unlikable, and when you're placed in the presence of someone who is impossible to feel sympathy for, it takes real skill both in front of and behind the camera to completely hold your attention as you cling to the sofa with one hand, and cover your eyes with the other. There are obvious concerns to be drawn with Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (1992); both Sandler's and Harvey Keitel's characters are almost impossibly hampered by their completely unsustainable gambling issues, and the Safdie's are also unafraid of invoking Dog Day Afternoon (1975) amongst some almost unbearable sequences involving a locked door that simply won't open. Supported by an outstanding soundtrack by Oneohtrix Point Never (who also scored Good Time) Uncut Gems is one of the best films of 2020, and Sandler was criminally overlooked during awards season, as were the Safdie Brothers. Sandler's display is his best in eighteen years; reminding you that yes, it was him in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love (2002) all those years ago, in which his character was also party to some dreadful decision making. Uncut Gems is utterly relentless, in the best way possible. 8.7/10