With a
stellar cast and an incredibly well-written script, Margin Call is an impressive first (feature-length) film by writer/director JC Chandor. Set in the recent past, and
covering just over one day in the life of an investment bank (shades of Lehman Brothers), it depicts what
may have been one, or many, firm’s part in the financial crash of 2007-08. While there is a decent explanation
for how things went so wrong, the story is not necessarily about
the ‘how’, but rather the ‘who’. It sheds some light on the characters who are
often directly or indirectly responsible in such situations, and why they make the decisions they
do.
From the
very first scene, the film is like a who’s who of character actors – Stanley
Tucci, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Paul Bettany (with an awful accent that veers from British to
Australian without warning), Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker (with a very consistent
American accent – Bettany, take note!) and Jeremy Irons. Intentionally or
unintentionally, the film has a token female (Demi Moore) and a token ethnic
presence (Aasif Mandvi) working in Risk Assessment, while the rest of the cast is completely white male. Whether this
is or isn't a true depiction of the environment the film is focusing on is not the
subject of this review; it is merely an observation.
The film is
well-paced and the story utterly gripping. The best thing about the script is that while there is some explanation of the mechanics of the financial world, the terminology is not dumbed down for the viewer - and the audience is expected to have a basic level of intelligence. And in line with that thinking is the characterisation of the key players - no one is made to look like the good guy or the bad guy. There are no clear 'villains' - and just about no
one is innocent - which makes everyone very human and their actions comprehensible.
Considering the lack of marketing for this film (at least in
the UK
