If you can stand to even think about these guys and what they’ve done to the world “Margin Call”, written and directed by J.C. Chandor, is supposed to be a pretty great movie. A.O. Scott describes it in the New York Times as,
. . . an extraordinary feat of filmmaking. It is hard to believe that “Margin Call” is Mr. Chandor’s first feature. His formal command — his ability to imply far more than he shows or says and to orchestrate a large, complex drama out of whispers, glances and snippets of jargon — is downright awe inspiring. The movie rarely leaves the Manhattan offices of the fictional investment bank (loosely modeled on Lehman Brothers) in which it takes place and limits its action, which consists mainly of phone calls and hurried meetings, to a frenzied 24-hour period. Within that narrow frame the gears of a complex narrative mesh with ravishing clockwork precision.
Starring everybody! Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany . . . and these guys here. Run time 106 minutes, rated R for language.
Starts Friday, December 10, Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street, 272.3970
It’s also on-demand already. And not as good as I hoped it’d be, sadly. Still might be (as the New Yorker put it) the best movie ever made about Wall Street. But that’s because no really great movie’s been made on the subject, somehow, I don’t think.