In A24’s latest crime thriller, Uncut Gems, everything begins in Ethiopia. Opening with injury, the film starts in 2010 at the scene of two familiar crimes—the exploitation of land and of man. First, an African miner emerges from the Welo mines of Ethiopia carried by his coworkers. His leg, mangled and bleeding, demands the attention of medics and mine managers alike. Shots of the man’s bone exiting his skin are soon replaced by those that show another protrusion. Though his bloodshed breeds commotion and conflict, the mine, always a worksite, continues to produce profit in the wake of his cries. Unearthed in the mines by another set of miners, the film’s namesake appears—an uncut black opal. The stone, still married to rock, shimmers even in the darkness, as if it were promised to a life beyond the mine. Propelling the rest of the story, the jewel swiftly leaves the African continent and all of 2010 behind. And though its geography changes, matters of extraction and indebtedness seem to follow the opal throughout its travels—haunting every transaction made in its name.

Read More