Uncut Gems (2019)

version

Well-known member
I think it depends on the addiction. I don't think everyone using drugs is doing it for the thrill, but apparently with gambling it is the thrill. You get addicted to the prospect of losing as much as winning, walking the tightrope. It's the risk that makes it addictive.

 
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pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Yeah the gambling one is insane. Some people literally addicted to losing. And that's more or less the nub of so many pathologies. Bad self image and feeling more at home in the negative.

Idk, somehow it never caught me too hard, the winning loads of money thing. It was always obvious when it was time to get out. The thrill was always clearly deceptive.
 
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Corpsey

bandz ahoy
My big 5 science book says that addiction correlates to conscientiousness rather than extraversion. The idea being that being low in conscientiousnes means being less able to inhibit short term desires for long term gains.

So if you're low in extraversion you might not actually get that much out of cigarettes, say, but if you're low in conscientiousnes, you'll be less likely to stop yourself from smoking when you ge the urge.
 

version

Well-known member
I remember Norm MacDonald saying he lost something like 400k on a single bet. It's Norm though...
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Gambling was inherently linked to Lucian's painting. Whenever he made money from selling his pictures in the earlier part of his career, he gambled wildly, often losing the lot; yet when he began to make vast sums, he gave up gambling almost entirely. Risk fed his enjoyment of more risk, so when a financial safety net appeared as the price of his pictures soared, the relishing of gambling disappeared. When he had run up mountainous debts, death threats were made by unsavoury lenders. He would pay what was owed, when he could.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.in...-the-artist-as-a-betting-man-8831790.html?amp
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
I remember Norm MacDonald saying he lost something like 400k on a single bet. It's Norm though...

in his wtf interview he talks about that. great insight to how it works. according to him, by them time you're down that much and you've only got 20k left, you'd rather cash and burn than walk away.
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
saw this a second time - was thinking it wouldnt be half as good and it does lose the stressfulness (somewhat), the manic pace, the unpredictability, its easier to follow, but it still works as a comic tragedy and character study when you already know how it plays out. howard is a guy that just doesnt know when to stop, hes a warped idealist, addicted to making things difficult for himself.

the thing that still bothers me a bit about UG and GT is that score - it ends up giving it a slightly nostalgic feel that stops it slightly from being totally of this decade. then again, a lot of music IS so nostalgic, so maybe that's exactly right. i wonder when the safdies will discard their hip indie background and make something very modern and slick. i suppose its inevitable.

julia fox interview
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/julia-fox-interview/
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Saw this this evening on netflix.

I kinda liked it, especially the music (reminded me of Thief for some reason, which adds to the nostalgia accusation) and the mania of some of those scenes - more than anything it evoked what life is like for most people in 2020, that constant background squal of multiple expectations on multiple platforms.
Have to say I didn't find it hard to follow, and I'm not someone who can always say that of films. The denouement didn't seem as high-tension as it could have been imo - maybe I just didn't give a shit about the main character though.

Julia Fox is obviously quite diverting. Really liked the whole sequence with Abel Tesfaye/the Weeknd.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
This is really great, thanks Version. It's rare to find film criticism this insightful without having to wade through a swamp of pretentiousness.

This is interesting.

An Unserious Man

Uncut Gems, the Safdie brothers’ winter blockbuster starring Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a sleazy diamond dealer caught in an escalating series of debts, might be the most explicitly Jewish mainstream movie since the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man (2009). Its release prompted the following emergency meeting of the editorial staff of Jewish Currents to discuss what Uncut Gems says about contemporary Jewish identity. This conversation has been condensed and edited, and includes spoilers.

https://jewishcurrents.org/an-unserious-man/
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
the pace of it evoking modern life is interesting as one of the safdies is kind of fixated on making sure the audience isnt ever bored. where is the end point of that though?
the one thing i think that i wasnt that impressed with was the ending. it seemed rightfully blunt and makes sense when you track that member or arno's crew in the film, but it was just too abrupt and not quite heavy enough after all that came before. ***SPOILER*** think id have preferred if the crew just lay into him like the scene in goodfellas where they all kick that guy in the bar to death on the floor.

this is maybe my favourite uncut gems piece
https://www.mic.com/p/i-took-my-rabbi-to-see-uncut-gems-21128347
After a long two and a half hours, I sat down with Rabbi Gibson over chocolate milkshakes, and we discussed Howard as a Jewish anti-hero, the film, A Serious Man, cultural Judaism in contrast to spiritual Judaism, and plenty of other topics.

julia fox is just... true to her second name.

funny seeing the weekend in 2012 and considering he hasnt really progressed in 8 years.
 
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catalog

Well-known member
Mate just sent me this:

"Also saw ‘uncut gems’ at the weekend on Netflix. Somewhat disappointing – especially after the tonne of good reviews. Have you ever seen Ben Wheatley’s ‘Down Terrace’? It’s a much sharper and darker take on dodgy, manic characters."

I know we've discussed down terrace on here before, I thought it was good 1sr time but shit 2nd time. And weatleys films have just got worse, whereas I think safdies are improving.

I'm going to the cinema to watch uncut gems again tomorrow I think.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I felt like I'd seen the ending before somewhere. Felt like it was a steal, but can't think from where.
Kevin Garnett was pretty impressive actually. V hard to play a version of yourself which isnt quite yourself.
Interesting that the diamond district guys are the actual guys too, that bit was v good
 

luka

Well-known member
The only jeweller I know is married with kids but spends most of his time in hotel rooms doing stupid amounts of Coke and fucking prostitutes
 

luka

Well-known member
You'd think you wouldn't be able to sustain that double life for long but you'd be surprised
 
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