IF DAVID MAMET had opted to make a film
about the Global Financial Crisis (or GFC, as it became known in Oz), one
imagines it would have looked something like this. Smart, sharp and dark in
equal measure, J C Chandor’s ensemble drama summons the spirit of Mamet’s GLENGARRY
GLEN ROSS, replacing grandstanding with a steely resolve of the players
involved: to secure their own regardless of the catastrophic consequences on
others.
Essentially fictional, but with more than a
passing semblance of truth about it, MARGIN CALL collates the finest ensemble
cast since Mamet’s stage-based 1992 masterpiece, for one ugly, non-judgmental view
of reality. Or rather, of an eleventh-hour, damage-limitation exercise within an
investment bank, forced to dump its highly toxic, sub-prime-backed stock on an
unsuspecting market to avoid going under.
Matters start with a series of lay-offs.
Among the victims: a middle-aged exec named Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci). He
appears to have uncovered a gaping hole in the company books: a disc he quietly
passes on to young hot-shot Peter Sullivan (STAR TREK’s Zachary Quinto) as he
leaves. Before long, a boardroom game of chess is in play, which will dictate
who stays, who goes, and who takes the fall.
Chandor – Oscar nominated for this
script of an assured feature debut –
elicits defined, defiant performances from an A-grade cast. Kevin Spacey, as
weary head trader Sam Rogers, gives off a warmth not seen in his latter-day
penchant for abhorrent types. Demi Moore, too, delivers an intelligently
nuanced turn as the head of risk, whose scalp may yet be claimed by the firm
she’s served so unswervingly over the years. Paul Bettany is on crackling form
as the cock-sure floor chief, while Australia’s Simon Baker shares a ruthless
precision with veteran Jeremy Irons at the company’s head table. All are
uniformly magnificent.
Chandor had some insider detail himself for
his subject (his father worked at Merrill Lynch), and he tellingly opts not to
pass judgment on those who brought the world to its knees in 2009. There are flashes
of humourous insight (“Speak to me in English” chides Rogers, of Sullivan’s sobering
revelatory gobbldigook), and the nagging certainty that only Tuld (Irons) –
whose name rhymes with Lehman Brothers’ Fuld – will get out alive, via his
private helipad. We don’t see all hell breaking loose: this is the pre-dawn
lead-up to it.
Critical
Rating: 8/10.
MARGIN
CALL is in cinemas from Thursday.
ED
GIBBS
First
published in The Sun-Herald.
Also out this week:
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