They Cut My Gems?!
A Glimpse into Uncut Gems
Coming into this film one thing I knew about celebrity jewelers in particular was how they often ripped off “new money” celebrities with costume diamonds and pieces that are flashier than they are worth anything valuable. Uncut Gems (2019) gets at this a couple of times; in the opening sequence, with the diamond crusted Furbies, and when KG (played by the actual Kevin Garnett) calls out Adam Sandler’s Howard in the back office. In a sense this movie ties Howard’s downfall to actually being a benefit to the people around him, if not society at large.
The racial dynamics in the film make clear that the opal’s value is always in flux but the Black people who have their bodies put to work over the supposed value of the gems is where the true value lies. This is most clearly evidenced when Julia (Julia Fox) is receiving her cash prize and KG is on TV gloating about his win. How capitalism and the slave trade have evolved over time is laid out clearly for the audience.
Not to mention how the Jewish faith comes into play with relations to money. The protagonist creates a sense of perceived wealth for gentiles but as the pressure builds in the film this perception cracks and is ultimately broken. In fact, once he reaches the wealth he always wanted he is killed for it. By an Italian-American and presumed Catholic no less.
This movies conveys really well how a loser never wins. Much like Breaking Bad, we as the audience find ourselves rooting for this utterly horrible person we have as a protagonist because of the odds, potential wins, capitalism, as well as the overall pacing and movement of the film world. There are still persistent reminders in the film and at the conclusion of the film that this guy fucking sucks and we should not be rooting for him. As our protagonist lays there dead on the cold floor of his jewelry shop his wife reminds us that just earlier in the film outside of his daughter’s high school he was strapped naked in the trunk of his car. That moment sells the whole movie. You get what you give.