Unconsciously, 9 months have passed in 2020, and it is estimated that I don't need to say more, and everyone who likes movies has already watched almost all of this year's big hits.
Today I come to Amway for a masterpiece that is easy to ignore —
Original Diamond
With the aura of A24 company and the good reputation of the Safdy brothers, a director group that has attracted much attention with the independent film "Good Times", "Original Diamond" has attracted much attention from the beginning of filming, and Adam Sandler's transformation participation has added a fire to the film.
After the release of "Original Diamond", it received extremely polarized reviews, not only the tearing of evaluation between the audience, but also the ratings of the media and the general audience.
The always strict MTC gave a high score of 90, and nearly 300 media on Rotten Tomatoes gave 92% praise, while the audience side did not even give a pass. It's a mirror flip of joker's situation.
However, despite the controversy, "Original Diamond" can also be regarded as a head and a face in the 2019-2020 awards season.
Adam Sandler's acting skills returned to the focus of criticism with a very positive posture, winning performance awards such as the National Critics Association Award for Best Actor, and the lack of Oscar nominations was indeed a bit surprising.
Howard Lanat (Adam Sandler) is a jewelry store owner who is well-known in New York's Diamond District but is now facing bankruptcy.
To save his career, he placed all his hopes on a rare opal from Ethiopia, the "original diamond."
Howard borrowed $100,000 for the original diamond, which he estimates will fetch millions of dollars at auction.
Once this gamble succeeds, he will be able to make a comeback.
However, contrary to expectations, since the original drill came to Howard's hands, everything began to slide to the edge of loss of control, and the continuous accidents were pressing forward step by step...
NBA star Kevin Garnett, who came to visit the store, was fascinated by this original diamond at a glance, so he borrowed the original diamond with the mortgage of the 2008 NBA championship ring, and the dishonest Howard changed hands and went to the pawn shop to exchange the ring for funds to participate in the gambling ball...
At the same time, the means of debt collectors are becoming more and more extreme, Howard continues to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, the debt is high, the endless crazy bet and the desperate gamble, this game of desire is becoming more and more dangerous...
The film continues the Safdie Brothers' signature audiovisual style, and the story is still buried in a restless mood that seems to dissuade audiences who cannot stand the style shortly after the film opens, leading to polarization of evaluation.
The noisy environment and the chatter of all the characters make it difficult for the audience to concentrate and put emotion into the characters, and as the protagonist, Howard's restlessness and panic are the first to be presented.
Unlike Quentin-esque talking films, the dialogue designed by the Safdy brothers as screenwriters and their old partner Ronald Bloomstein serves an uncomfortable impatience.
There is no glittering humor gag, no witty back and forth, in order to create constant tension, the dialogue and behavior of the characters are heavily overlapped, and waves of quarrels and shouts are pounding the audience's eardrums every moment.
This side is asking about the bet, and Howard on the other side is answering the phone emotionally at the same time;
Howard was on the phone with the doctor, and his partner Demani was jumping like a thunderbolt and spitting out the fragrance;
Howard, who took the original diamond from the fish's stomach, also had to complain perfunctorily;
The debt collector is pushed and shoved by Kevin's bodyguard, and scolded howard at the same time...
None of this is a crucial plot twist, and everyone seems reluctant to let the other person finish a sentence in every conversation.
And this is precisely the state of life of Howard's character, and once the sense of alienation deliberately created by the directors is adapted, it becomes a way for the audience to understand the character, which is actually an externalization of Howard's inner world.
Howard is a real and real character who will not be liked, and once he dies, no one can stop him, a typical world-class gambler.
He is not a qualified businessman, and will only blindly hope for vain luck;
He is not a qualified husband, his acting skills are clumsily moving between two women, and as a betrayer, he is shamelessly angry at his lover's misdeeds;
He is not a qualified father, and he hopes to remedy it but is always unable to do it because of his own mess.
The Safdy brothers balance Howard's multiple failed identities as much as possible, so that why he went to the bankrupt field is also clear, and the irrationality and extreme madness emanating from the character's body are accurately portrayed.
This is, of course, thanks to the actor Adam Sandler.
The role of Howard is a testament to Sandler's ability to handle serious people, and the veteran comedian has shown more possibilities through the work of the Safdy brothers.
The sense of comedy that remains makes Howard's overwhelmed more absurd and convincing, and most importantly, Sandler's performance accurately captures Howard's "fanaticism", and its appeal is as fascinating as that piece of original diamond.
As the plot progresses, this frenzy expands and reaches its peak in the gamble of the final ball game.
Locked between two doors, the creditor Arnold is presumably a true portrayal of most of the audience who insisted on watching "The Original Diamond," from initially scorning Howard's insignificant gamble, to gradually becoming attracted to it, and finally to focusing intently on the gamble, a frenzy that seduced everyone on and off the screen who stared at it.
In fact, in the final analysis, the "desire" that gives this "fanaticism" strength is the real protagonist of "Original Diamond", just like the original diamond itself, uncut, is a natural product of nature, and the endless "desire" is the most primitive impulse of human beings.
At the same time, the original diamond constantly shows an unpredictable force, invisibly playing with every mortal who is full of hope for it, and the primitive tones interspersed in modern electronic music are the footnotes of this invisible character.
It came with blood and selfishness, and it also kept its bloody side in a way that made people stunned when they left.
From the original diamond to the colonoscope, from the pool of blood to the original diamond, the multicolored crystals like a nebula will eventually turn into a starry sky, and "desire" will eventually break through the confinement of flesh and blood in a very ironic way.
The sudden reversal of the character's fate at the end is indeed anti-routine, but it is quite reasonable, and the two lines of Kevin Garnett and Howard are also closely aligned on the level of expression.
Losing in an embarrassing posture in the face of desire is the norm of life, and the people favored by "desire" are really rare, and under the impetus of this invisible force, they have become the bait for more victims.
It doesn't matter the "satisfaction" of human beings, everything is just a game, and everyone is nothing more than a pawn that thinks that they will be the protagonist. Howard's ending shatters this protagonist fantasy, and the emotions that make the audience are stirred up collapse.
What is even more ironic is the original diamond itself, without spoilers, the original diamond itself also has a more unexpected reversal - its so-called value is given by humans, and the diamond trading area and auction house in the film are important places for this kind of empty value assignment.
Recalling the overtly mentioned "crazy Jews" in the film and the connection between African-American blood and the original diamond, "The Original Diamond" buries a big joke about capitalism under the story.
PS. I have to say that the Safdie brothers do have a hand in coaching actors, whether it is playing their own "wolf king" KG in the film, or julia Fox, a newcomer actor who plays mistress Julia, the performance is quite eye-catching, and I specially recommend it to the fans.