Thursday, July 18, 2013

Margin Call - 2011 - 3½ Stars

Actors:  Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany
Director:  J.C. Chandor

Note:  Minor Spoilers Ahead

Margin Call is probably the overall best film I've seen about high finance.  Stories about high finance that also peddle in morals always have two problems:  being super-rich always looks really awesome in movies, and the montage where our protagonist learns how to cheat people out of money looks fun instead of soul-destroying.  Margin Call avoids the stylish montage and flaunting the trappings of the hyper-rich.  It contains speeches, but doesn't pound you over the head with its points.  This is a movie for Adults - sadly, too few of these are made.

I want to rate this film higher because of my appreciation of its craft, but it's not a very exciting movie.  The characters aren't sharply drawn, which is part of the point.  The camera work is functional - again, part of the point, no whiz-bang effects.  I doubt anyone decides to study finance because they saw Margin Call when they were young.

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