Despite their young age, Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie, also known as the Safdie Brothers, have already a wide and successful career. For 15 years they have been responsible for a good handful of short films and the movies Go Get Some Rosemary (2009), Heaven Knows What (2014) and Good Time (2017), that have achieved a big amount of nominations and awards and have collected nothing but positive reviews. Their crude but realistic style, filled with intense characters and mindblowing plot twists made them be one of the most interesting names in American filmmaking underground.
Until now, their movies were bait for film festivals, where they were one of the big gems to discover if you didn’t already know them. But the big success of their previous movie Good Time (2017), starring a passionated Robert Pattinson who was one of the motors of the film, gave the brothers the chance to direct their first big-budget film. And that is how we got Uncut Gems (2019) here.
Uncut Gems (2019) is based on a script written by the Safdie Brothers back in 2009 but that had to wait 10 years to be in production due to budget reasons. It tells the story of a charismatic New York City jeweler who is always on the lookout for the next big score and makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win. The story was slightly inspired by real-life events back when the Safdie Brothers‘ father’s time working for a man also named Howard in the Manhattan Diamond District.
Uncut Gems (2019) stars Adam Sandler, Kevin Garnett, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Mike Francesa, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian. It has been rated R for pervasive strong language, violence, some sexual content and brief drug use.
The movie has been part of the line-up in festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, London Film Festival, and Camerimage International Film Festival, before having a theatrical release in the USA via A24. Now, it is scheduled to be part of the Netflix catalog on January 31st. Here you can see the trailer for Uncut Gems (2019):
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