J.C. Chandor writes and directs this wonderful film about a reality that looms over us without us realizing it: the financial world.
It stars Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany and Jeremy Irons.
Margin Call is one of those movies that bathes us in a reality check and gives us much – much too much – to think about: it is about the markets and the collapse of the systems that occurred in 2008.
Plot
While there is a generalized layoff due to cutbacks, someone comes up with a figure based on some valuations: they are incorrect and the market collapses. The night is long and the trend must be corrected, and it won’t exactly get done by playing at the Care Bears in Oz.
The Movie
The highlight is the script, written by J.C. Chandor himself. Do you know what leverage is? Or risk profile? The financial market is going to take us for… We love Kevin Spacey, we love Jeremy Irons, and we love that theatrical direction (the budget, you can just imagine). Great actors and, I must say it again, a wonderful script that explains one of the biggest disasters that could happen… and did happen.
This is real History, few know about it, and that’s why I recommend it.
Our Opinion
This film is a must if you want to understand something about what is happening in the world. And if you want to play ludo… maybe something a little lighter would be better for the occasion. Great script. Not spectacular.
Other Reviews
“It captures how our financial institutions became secret havens to a selfishness so undiluted it was sociopathic. You watch this drama of big money with a tingle of toxic fascination” Owen Gleiberman: Entertainment Weekly
- “Chilling and enjoyable in unequal measure (…) ‘Margin Call’ succeeds in portraying a culture divorced from the one in which ordinary people live and work” Joe Morgenstern: The Wall Street Journal