Posts
2011, 10-22; completed 11-9:
Review of film: “MARGIN CALL”
In 2008, the world’s economy nearly had a “MELTDOWN” due to FINANCIAL shenanigans at various institutions like LEHMAN BROTHERS...
... This new 107-minute R-rated film (directed by J. C. CHANDOR) was “INSPIRED” by events from that time period...
... As the film begins, longtime employee Eric Dale (STANLEY TUCCI) has been called in for a meeting at his investment bank firm. He is a risk analyst, & seems to be expecting something like a “commendation” for his efforts...
... In any case, he’s stunned to hear that he’s being LET GO from the firm, with NO “notice”!...
... He can’t believe what he’s being told in very “dry” fashion, & gets no real answer as to whether he’s being terminated due to disagreements he’d had in the past with an executive named Sarah Robertson (DEMI MOORE)...
... Stanley is “escorted” back to his office by a “guard”, & it’s clear the company doesn’t “trust” him & wants him “WATCHED” as he cleans out his office... We see that numerous OTHER people are also being dismissed with NO notice...
... Trying to be helpful, Stanley tries to point out that he’s been working on some very IMPORTANT things that need to be handled promptly-- but the people there DON’T WANT to listen to what he attempts to tell them...
... Most of the remaining employees try to “AVOID” those leaving, fearing they might be “linked” to (i.e., “tainted” by) people who’ve done things supposedly “unacceptable” in some way...
... That attitude is “exemplified” by the attitude of the office manager, Will Emerson (PAUL BETTANY)...
... As Stanley is approaching an elevator to leave his floor, he’s spoken to by a fairly new employee in the Risk Management area, Peter Sullivan (ZACHARY QUINTO)...
... Zach tells him, he’d really appreciated all the information & HELP Stan had given him as a “mentor” at the company, & he was sorry to see him go...
... Stanley is GRATEFUL for Zach’s thoughtful words, & offers him a USB FLASH MEMORY card which he said contains some important “disturbing” things he’d been investigating which he felt needed to be “LOOKED INTO” immediately...
... Paul works to try to get the remaining employees like Zach and his co-worker friend, Seth Bregman (PENN BADGLEY), to ignore the wholesale dismissals in the company & concentrate on their OWN work so the firm doesn’t add THEM to the “unemployed” rolls...
... As he’s leaving the company’s building, Stan (who’d been promised some discharge benefits for a short period) tries to use his company-supplied cell phone-- & angrily throws it to the GROUND when he learns that the phone had already been DEACTIVATED by the “higher-ups”...
... In time, we’re shown the big “BOSS” executive of “everyday”-type interactions for the company, Sam Rogers (KEVIN SPACEY)... He’s in a very sad & UPSET state of mind...
... Your initial “feeling” is that he’s upset for all the economic HARDSHIPS that will soon be suffered by the large group of people being unceremoniously dismissed by the company with no notice...
... But, you soon see that he has NO seeming concern about that situation with his employees-- he’s upset because his beloved DOG has become critically ill!...
... There, you have the “TONE” of the whole company as typified by him & Paul. As Paul points out, those remaining are making a LOT of money, & they need to keep-up their efforts to CONTINUE being in that situation!...
... PENN “buys-into” what Paul says, & comments to Zach (who’s NOT inherently venal) that, they are indeed very well-paid for their work, & he “wonders” how much PAUL makes there...
... Zach had originally been interested in being a space engineer or the like, & had taken the Wall Street bank job because it also involved working with “NUMBERS” (which he was great at) & paid a lot BETTER than aeronautical-type “rocket scientist” work...
... After some “relaxation” time, Zach decides to look at the info that Stan had given him on the FLASH MEMORY card...
... He quickly sees WHY Stan was “troubled” by what he’d discovered, & sets to work to try to find the “KEYS” to it all that Stan had said he was still working to find...
... After some exhaustive work, Zach finds the “missing pieces”, & calls friend PENN to look over his discoveries...
... Penn is also concerned, & agrees they need to bring the matter up to their immediate boss PAUL...
... Paul is likewise quite disconcerted over Zach’s findings. They try to contact STAN to discuss his original discoveries & ask for his HELP-- but, angry over the company’s treatment of him, Stan doesn’t want to ANSWER calls to his home phone numer...
... Things look so bad, Paul reluctantly calls his boss KEVIN to come see what Zach had unearthed about some “paper” holdings of the company & the “EQUASION” the company was using in evaluating them...
... Being a “big-picture” guy rather than one that deals with daily “nitty-gritty”, Kevin needs Paul & Zach to “EXPLAIN” things to him about what he’s “seeing” when looking at the on-screen computers...
... The “picture” painted for him is so potentially “grim”, Kevin insists that the others join him in showing Zach’s findings to HIS boss, Jared Cohen (SIMON BAKER)-- a guy neither Penn nor Zach even knew “EXISTED” in the secretive company’s heirarchy!...
... Simon quickly “CATCHES-ON” to the problem Zach shows him... In private, he talks to company big-shot DEMI who’d been the one “pushing” the company towards doing the things that had proven to be a PROBLEM discovered by Zach...
... Simon becomes very angry at Demi, & points out that SHE was the one who’d pressed the company to use a certain “EQUASION” in developing the “COMBINED” paper assets the company was selling to “3rd parties for big profits...
... He points out to Demi that “7 trillion dollars around the world HINGES on that equasion!” she’d insisted be used in their dealings, & Zach’s studies had shown the equasion to be ERRONEOUS!...
... Weakly, Demi says, well, she has investigated what Stanley had originally turned-up & which Zach had “verified”, & it appears that “We were WRONG...”
... Simon makes clear he doesn’t intend to take the “FALL” for the faulty work done by his underlings, & makes clear his position on the “blame”-game by saying, “No— YOU were wrong!...”
... Reluctantly, Simon places a call & urges the OWNER of the company, John Tuld (JEREMY IRONS), to fly in to discuss the growing problem...
... At one point, since they’re now part of the “in” group at the company (both because of Zach’s discovery & the fact they’re the only ones left in the Risk department after all the firings), Zach & Penn are invited to the ritzy HOME of one of the company “bigshots”... Penn again marvels on how RICH the bosses are...
... Jeremy soon arrives in town, & Simon uneagerly leads his “group” into the MEETING to inform Jeremy of the problem & discuss what can be “DONE” about things...
... Zach is chosen to explain his findings that, with the way the company’s offerings had been “sold” to 3rd-party buyers, a mere 25% decrease in the basic underlying value of the assets “behind” those paper assets would mean that the company was basically “UNDERWATER”...
... And, as “calm” Jeremy had made clear he understood, that decrease had ALREADY started happening due to the errors made in the “EQUASION” used for the valuations-- meaning the company was at the beginning of a complete COLLAPSE...
... Jeremy makes clear he’s immensely “COLD-blooded” about things. At one point, he blithely ticks off “dates” that the country had undergone PREVIOUS economic depressions & breakdowns-- after which things always “RECOVERED”, until the NEXT collapse...
... As he comments to the assembled group in the conference room, there are “three ways to make a LIVING in this business: be FIRST, be SMARTER – or CHEAT!...”
... Jeremy says, the company must immediately start to SELL-OFF the paper representing the defective assets, before OTHERS in the industry REALIZED how worthless the paper was!...
... Kevin is STUNNED at that idea, pointing out that, anyone caught doing that would NEVER be TRUSTED again by people in the industry!...
... As he points out, the people at their company doing the selling of those valueless items would thus be unable to make a LIVING in the industry again, & would be OUT OF WORK for the foreseeable future!...
... Jeremy says, he fully understands that-- but it MUST be done, “so WE may SURVIVE!...”
... He feels KEVIN should be the one “leading” the charge for his guys’ selling the papers to gullible clients, but Kevin makes clear he’s AGAINST the whole idea...
... At one point, when he’s alone with Simon, Kevin comments to him, “You cannot be DOING what you’re THINKING of doing--!”, in that it would be blatantly RIPPING-OFF customers they’d spent years developing as clients...
... But Simon holds a MEETING with Demi & others & soon makes clear his THINKING on the matter of attempting to sell “paper” that they know has NO REAL VALUE behind it...
... Knowing he’s a likely cog in the “success” of his plan, Jeremy at one stage talks privately to KEVIN, telling him. “You’re a very important piece of this ‘puzzle’... Are you IN on this?...”
... The big shots want to get STANLEY’S help in their various projects... What underhanded things are they willing to do to try to “PERSUADE” him to change his “position” & assist them?... Will he acquiesce to their wishes?...
... What executive will seemingly be “SACRIFICED” to get thru the mess that’s arisen?...
... If the low-level traders at the company know they’ll LOSE their profession if they get their clients to BUY the bank’s worthless “paper”, what “INCENTIVE” do the execs try to use to convince them to MAKE such sales?...
... Will the execs convince KEVIN to help them try to quickly SELL the worthless paper, &, if so, HOW will they try to do that?...
... I was quite favorably IMPRESSED by this movie & the THOUGHT-provoking way it was handled:
... We meet super-RICH people who couldn’t care less about the “LITTLE” people who don’t have their financial resources:
... As one of the big shots says, well, people thru history have OFTEN had “rough” times, & they need to learn to simply start “OVER” again when things collapse...
... It’s real “EASY” to say things like that when you yourself have loads of MONEY to pay your bills & start NEW efforts to find a way to LIVE!... The sad thing is, the guys we see here are frighteningly “OBLIVIOUS” to problems the “OTHER 99%” have!...
... I know one person who saw the film who felt some actors were “over-the-top” in their performances... I, however, found the characterizations quite FITTING:
... Overall, I found the movie to have a bunch of “powerhouse” performances that struck me as “RIGHT ON the money” (so to speak!)-- particularly those we get from KEVIN, STANLEY, PAUL, & ZACH (who’s one of the producers of the movie), + Jeremy & Penn in smaller roles... (Demi’s role is quite “tiny” overall)...
... The film is a sad “commentary” on the huge “DIVISIONS” that at times occur between the RICH & the “rest” of us, & the alarming lack of true “ACCOUNTABILITY” from the “WELL-CONNECTED” in BANKING & POLITICAL & similar “circles”...
... I’m giving the film 8.75 stars for the careful “step-by-step” way it handles its story, & the smart WRITING & ACTING exhibited in it...
( ... By the way: as shown in the photo below of the audience, an advance screening of the movie was offered by the CIFF -- = CHICAGO INT'L FILM FESTIVAL -- as its "Surprise" film at its Fall Festival # 47)..
( ... By the way: as shown in the photo below of the audience, an advance screening of the movie was offered by the CIFF -- = CHICAGO INT'L FILM FESTIVAL -- as its "Surprise" film at its Fall Festival # 47)..
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