Marty Supreme

The Safdie freneticism is dialed down a bit here, which makes this (slightly) more palatable for a wider audience than earlier Safdie productions. However, of their last three (a loose trilogy of 'guys who need to make something happen'), I find this the least successful. I appreciated Good Time for drawing its main character out of himself as he tries to save his brother, alongside its racial subversion. Uncut Gems reveals a foolish and selfish man, but does it in a way that puts us in his shoes, creating a space for both empathy and critique. Marty is a similar character to Howard in Gems, out to accomplish his own purpose no matter the relational destruction he leaves behind. But where Sandler's inherent likability invites us in to Howard's world, Chalamet keeps us at a distance from Marty, meaning the film gives us a flatly unlikable character who, then, apparently, has an abrupt moment of redemption (which, to me, feels unearned). I also was jarred (and not in a good way) multiple times by the period setting being invaded by contemporary music.