Black Diamond, 2025.
Written and Directed by Judd Bloch.
Starring Inbar Lavi, Ray Panthaki, Jake McLaughlin, Shaun Sipos, Michael James Bell, and Tristan Cunningham.
SYNOPSIS:
Follows a young woman whose idyllic life with her hedge funder boyfriend turns it into a deadly triangle of lust, obsession and murder after meeting a local cowboy handyman.
Ostensibly, writer/director Judd Bloch’s Black Diamond is a psychological thriller infused with eroticism and social class commentary. However, the performances from the central trio are unconvincingly off due to a script loaded with dialogue that comes across as someone who doesn’t properly know how to write or accurately convey character traits such as elitist greed, rising obsession, or sly smarts. As such, the film has none of the above qualities.
Aside from the painfully obvious resolution the filmmaker is building to (making an 89-minute narrative feel like 159 in the process), a case could be made that Judd Bloch isn’t entirely sure he knows what he wants to do with these characters either, and how to arrive at that ending. What is for sure is that despite wanting to say something about the gulf between social class and masculinity (and how that might differ from the perspectives of the wealthy elite and a small local or Pakistani and American customs), the film is caught up in twists and betrayals, meaning it doesn’t say much of anything about society or these characters beyond a generically broad springing that the least suspecting person in the room might be the most sneaky power player.
Jesse (Jake McLaughlin) isn’t thrilled that the ski resort town he resides in is mainly shared with wealthy tourists lodging up during that season, but he isn’t necessarily in a position to do anything about it. He plays polite and makes things work, serving as a fixer-upper to a mountain lodge home he once owned, repairing anything broken. Currently lodging there are a couple, Elena (Inbar Lavi) and Spencer (Ray Panthaki), with the latter having acquired an expensive historical painting (claiming that he ripped off the original owner to double down and sell it for its actual price somewhere in the millions), a possession he rambles about to the former who clearly doesn’t harbor any genuine love for him.
When Spencer isn’t bragging about the painting or his intellect, he is talking down to Jesse and the working class, even when he demonstrates some knowledge of art. For convoluted reasons, Spencer has to leave town for a day or two, which gives Elena and Jesse time to see through one another and have a tryst while he is making repairs. She says one and done; he craves more. As such, Jesse begins pushing his way into the personal space of Elena and Spencer, knowing that she thinks he is a pretentious, greedy loser who is so full of himself it wouldn’t cross his mind that she would prefer intimacy with the help.
During an attempted robbery on the painting that is derailed into an attempted sexual assault against Elena, the triangle dynamic shifts as Spencer cowardly doesn’t come to her aid, yet Jesse storms into the room, coming to her rescue. However, as heroic as these actions are, his motives are still driven by an awkward, underplayed obsession that feels at odds with the character’s established calmness and is one of several acting failings here. Ray Pantaki mildly fares better, gradually becoming unhinged as Elena throws his cowardice in his face.
Meanwhile, the police get involved and suggest Spencer purchase a firearm for protection, seemingly implying that’s how a true American would protect themselves and a loved one, which is a message made ickier in its attempt to emasculate a Pakistani man. He is not an upstanding person, but elements of the writing cross into an uncomfortable contempt for him for not being white and adopting a type of toxic masculinity typically associated with Americans. The comedy isn’t there if this is all meant to be dark humor.
There is a more significant issue in all of this: these dynamics are not compelling in execution, even if they might sound juicy, as written about here. There is also a hazy, dreamlike score that doesn’t fit, given that this is meant to be a grounded psychological thriller. If that music is intended to be an extension of Elena’s seductive qualities, that’s another misstep since there isn’t much eroticism or sensuality here, even though it’s presenting a love triangle. It’s also a reductive, bland case of a woman primarily existing as an object for two men to fight over and one that doesn’t place much emphasis on her perspective.
Instead, Black Diamond is killing time for a telegraphed ending that would have been fine if anything about the story and characters had a pulse. This isn’t a terrible film, but one that’s hard to buy into the drama due to its clunky writing and performances that struggle to capture these characters’ personalities believably.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
