Cinematography:
Darius KhondjiComposer:
Daniel LopatinCast:
Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Keith Williams Richards, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch, Tommy Kominik, Pom Klementieff (more)Plots(1)
With his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hopes of staying afloat and alive. (Netflix)
Videos (3)
Reviews (12)
It’s a pack of lies. The protagonist ("hero"), played really well by Adam Sandler, lies from start to finish, makes excuses, cheats, makes false promises, pulls the wool over people's eyes, balks... I can't say he's particularly good at it, but he certainly does it so intensely and automatically that he's actually lying to himself, even though he doesn't know it. Watching him get tangled up in his own webs was no particular pleasure for me, and I couldn't even get attached to any other character, because they're all just lying in this movie. All of them. All the time. Still, it gradually won me over, and the riveting final half hour finally earned it that fifth star.
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The best directorial feat by the Safdie brothers and the best serious role by Adam Sandler, who fits the part like a glove. It's a very whiny film without any positive characters. Sandler owed perhaps everything he looked at and I thoroughly enjoyed his crazy gamble. Julia Fox was also great to watch, she is an unknown actress to me, but I was wiping saliva off the table during the garter scene. The finale is intense and unexpected. I enjoyed it. PS: the scene with The Weeknd was fun.8/10.
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Neo-noir Woody Allen on cocaine laced with synthetics. Loud-mouthed, too tense, hypnotic, mumbling, repulsive, soiled, slimy and truly (I really mean truly) intense. It cannot be recommended anyone. Compared to Uncut Gems, Good Time would be a viewer-friendly film. This time, the Safdis provoke on purpose. You will either hate or admire them from the bottom of your heart, but you will hardly say “hmm, a nice average movie that I will not remember tomorrow “. You will remember. It is only a question of whether you will spit in disgust or nod appreciatively while recalling it.
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Like Good Time, Uncut Gems is a movie self-absorbed in its own showiness, but this time the formal tricks are more effective in engaging the viewer into the never-ending tangle of the swearing, the questionable decisions and the persecution that characterise and shape the protagonist. The highly subjective narration that hardly leaves the hysterical Howard creates, together with his questionable nature, a very unpredictable chain of events where every gleam of hope is repeatedly negated by another stupid decision, which smartly culminates in a black-humorous but incredibly raw and dynamic climax. Adam Sandler is perfect, and perfectly cast, few others can handle unstable characters as well as he does. The music is irritating at times, but after a while it merges with the unorthodox focus. I doubt I will ever watch it again, but to watch once it’s almost perfect. 85%
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It's a bit of a paradox that this hyperkinetic street thriller actually feels anachronistic today, because it actually tells a story set against the backdrop of old New York City, the face of which has been heavily transformed over the past decade to suit the lifestyle of young yuppies, giving the whole glorious big-city street-life a pretty big beating. Even as a kind of reminiscence of those times, we can enjoy the depth and muted colours of a thirty-five-millimeter film in the hands of the most talented, Darius Khondji, who desaturated the colors of, for example, The City of Lost Children or Se7en. It's ironic that the Safdie bros meet exactly the demands of a predatory young directorial duo, but that's mainly because of how they ignore the formal developments within the last, say, fifteen years, after the widespread advent of digital.
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