2019 was a year of troubling themes - corruption, hate, racism, fear, greed - but chief among them was this: it seems as though we, as a people, no longer share the same basic facts or reality. This was a year spent watching politicians and celebrities and social media all-stars doubling (and, indeed, tripling or quadrupling) down at a furious clip, never willing to admit that they'd done the wrong thing, said something offensive, or simply found themselves in over their heads thanks to a series of bad choices. Doubling down on whatever bullshit you're spewing is the new "Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?", a defensive maneuver so painfully transparent and easily disproven that one couldn't help but stand in awed wonder this year when, time and again, some of the most powerful people in the world would employ this tactic...and more or less get away with it. Sometimes repeatedly!
Perhaps the Safdie Brothers, Benny and Josh (who directed 2017's blistering, ferocious Good Time) saw all of this coming. Maybe they knew that 2019 would be The Year of Doubling Down, and decided that now would be the perfect time to unleash the anti-hero this period in American history all but demands: Howard Ratner, the wheeling, dealing, frequently-screaming, hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-his-teeth diamond retailer at the heart of the two-hour panic attack known as Uncut Gems.
UNCUT GEMS Review: Crazier The Bet, Bigger The Reward
2019 saved its most intense movie for last.
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