Thoughts: Uncut Gem
I have been wanting to watch this movie since the day it's out, and Safdie brothers directed this masterpiece and I kinda love them after "Good Time", it is also yet another real piece of work that hits me. I downloaded this movie before I head out, thinking that I'll just catch it along the way, but little did I know I spent a decently long time frozen in A&W, totally captivated by this amazing visual storytelling.
I won't want to spoil the movie for anyone else out there, (potential spoiler alert) but I like how this felt like and is a character study as we are bought into the world by Sandlers, a quirky jeweler, who battles with his gambling addiction (Part of it felt alittle like The Gambler). I love how this movie keeps me constantly on the edge of my seat as I watch Howard trying to push the limit of his fate. The movie is constantly uncomfortable to watch as I have this love-hate relationship with the amazing cinematography and awkward situations. You would question just so many things inside the film as they concoct a peculiar cocktail of curiosity and amusement in your head. I love all the fights, all the confrontation. You'll be constantly thrown into a range of emotional spectrum when you bounced from pissed off, relief to happy and you begin rooting for Howard near the end while the enigmatic synth music matched your breath.
Midway through the story, it actually reminds me of the literature book that I was assigned to read, The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Where they taught you about greed and gratitude.
He is lucky to have Julia around who's so loyal to him, to accept him as he is, as much as they both are very much flawed in their own beautiful way. It is beautiful when Howard just lets his guard down after being so darn tired of everything. To let go and be vulnerable.
There are several philosophical lessons drawn from this cautionary tale, and "pushing your luck", and how the whole scene of the long uncomfortable zooming felt like the beginning and the "end" as we can see how everything came into full circle. How "magic" the whole opal actually is when used as a motif throughout the whole story plot. I love the structure, and the ending nevertheless did its job. The ultimatum rained upon me and caught me by absolute surprise, and this is probably as real as it can get. It is as though as "don't lean on the glass", is a subtle foreshadowing yet a juxtaposition of how it captivated Kevin Garnett and drawn him in.
Call it luck, but uncut gem certainly has got all its stars aligned, this is probably gonna be one of my favorite film of 2020 that leaves me with a hauntingly beautiful aftertaste.
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