You’ve been waiting for a shipment that have a stone that will change your life forever, worth over a million dollars, It’s your lucky day, right? The only problem is a very simple situation created a fuss that might be too hard to get out from, will this remain your lucky day or will it turn to be something else when the whole city is chasing you?

The movie is form Drama, Crime genre, and it tells the story of a Jewish gems dealer who is having a normal day until he receives a shipment he’s been waiting for months that contains an opal stone that is worth over a million dollars, while he’s enjoying the moment and things seems to go on the bright side, he sees a greedy opportunity in lending the stone to a basketball player for 1 day for good luck in exchange in having his ring for 1 day as well, after the player have a tremendous victory, he goes back to buy the stone and things starts to get very complicated, greed, misfortune and unfortunate events starts to take place start to finish. The first act of the movie introduce the characters pretty well, you know the nature and the motive that makes everyone interested and you know their soft spots as well, it also introduce the opal stone situation where the basketball player do a temporary exchange to get the stone for his ring for a short amount of time, when he does the change back though, serious problems starts to appear, the second act of the movie shows the problems getting more and more complicated, whenever the main character tries to solve a problem, a new one appears, while he’s struggling to get things straight for the stone, he’s also having his personal life falling apart, by the third act strings gets even more and more complicated and while he’s trying to be a family man, good gambler, gems dealer and having a normal life, it seems that the formula is just too much to handle as long as you greed, deceit and dishonesty all along.

This movie is absolutely delightful, it delivers what it promises, tense conversations and natural life like screw ups, very believable and leaves you at the edge of your seat from the very first moment, you’re just eager to see how will he get away with what he have now.

This movie is a the definition of a fast pace anti-boring movie, you’re just so into what you’re seeing on the screen and just like that you’ll find over 2 hours passed already, I can go on and on to the positives which I’ll come to later, but only a couple of things I thought they didn’t really match the movie, I loved the score, amazing score, but I don’t think it suited the movie that much, yes it did develop the tension even more, but was it the best, I though violin or cello based music or symphonies would have been awesome to such a movie, the score (though it’s amazing in every aspect) suits a Sci-fi movie or a rather dystopian movie more.

The movie takes a course of less than a week so you can’t really see much of a character development over time, but you can rather see a huge development in the psychological and emotional parts of the main character in specific, and minor in supporting characters.

You have to love sound mixing, it creates the loudness chaotic effect that the movie needs, at times you won’t even stand the stress the movie is displaying, you have to also appreciate the way the movie is shot, it’s filled with close-ups to show the real emotion of the characters, I’m not a fan of shaky camera style, but I have to say in that movie it did serve the purpose perfectly, the whole setup when it becomes to cinematography in certain scenes, it was done with paying much attention to details, you feel that this is just so real, great research done from the directors on that aspect.

The plot is neither predictable nor unpredictable, you know that things will keep on getting worse and worse, but you just don’t know how, so you kind of expect the main course of action but you fail to expect the exact outcome of every scene, the movie is always one step ahead when it comes to expectations.

I have to pay tribute to the “Lynchian” like scenes at the beginning and ending of the movie, very surreal and I loved how they’re used in the movie, it kind of gets you in the atmosphere and sets the vibe.

But my real best scene would definitely the breakdown, there’s a scene where the main character breaks down when nothing goes right, the body movement, makeup, performance and tone of voice were exceptional, this was the best scene for me.

This is one of the movies where you can sense the quality of performance from all the characters, but the movie is being told from the perspective of the main character only so he gets to be in every scene with longer screen time than any other, so it’s an easy pick, “Adam Sandler” proves that he’s a very talented not just a comedy actor but also a drama genius.

The movie is one of the best independent movies you’ll come across, great cast with great performance, the director shows the movie from the perspective of the main character and this is why you’ll see the main character in every single scene, which is a blessing as “Sandler” delivers such a powerful performance that he should have got at least an Oscar nomination for it.

The shaky camera, the loud noise, the continuous music at some scenes, the very loud and interloping conversations of the characters in most if the scenes makes you very stressed just as much if not more than the characters you’re seeing on screen.

I loved it.

Though the movie is a pure Indie, I think that most mainstream moviegoers would like it because it stands solid in storytelling, quick pace and normal drama, I think drama fans and dark comedy fans will love it as well.

Don’t go in expecting a normal movie though, it’s a roller coaster of stress and intensity all along.

9/10, Such a solid movie, such a great drama that is filled with tension and unexpected events, the script is well written to be very natural, the Safdie brothers with the second good movie in a row after “Good time” proves to be one of the new masters to be, the movie falls short for me when it comes to the score, it wasn’t suitable by all means, reminded me with 80s Sci-fi movies, I also know for sure that the ending will introduce a controversy of some sort, but I loved it and I think it’s just the cherry on top and at the end you only ask yourself one question, is he a good person, or is he a bad one? Guess the answer is left to you.

Movie Quote

-What do you know?

-I don’t know, I just know.