2011

Review by David Anthony

No one needs to tell anyone living in the U.S., indeed anyone anywhere in the worldthat these are troubled financial times. But just in case you need reminding or if perchance you are a glutton for punishment, then there is Margin Call, a thriller more frightening than Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and Vincent Price put together, complete with a Hitchcock ending. I had to summon some courage to watch this one.Written and directed by J. C. Chandor, Margin Call stars Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, John Tuld, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley and Stanley Tucci. in one very long day in an investment banking firm as the 2008 financial crisis unfolds. In some ways the tension builds reminiscent of 24, yet without the sound effects. Instead, viewers watch the faces of those dramatis personae who hold the cards or pretend to do so, as they alternately lie, cheat, steal and moralize about the measures they may feel they must take in order to ensure survival of their firm, their jobs and ultimately themselves at any and all costs. It is a familiar tale, ripped as they say from the headlines, but is no less horrifying when you know where it will lead, and from the shaky start there is absolutely no doubt about this. There is no way or nowhere to go but down, down, down.

What makes it worth watching is the acting. It seems unlikely that many minds may be changed by the level of detail and the technical proficiency of the explanations for the disaster, but 90 minutes in the presence of this cast, led by Spacey and Irons, with assists from Tucci and Moore and room for the newcomers Quinto and company are enough to justify the price of admission. Admittedly it is a bit like buying a ticket for a fight only to discover one is oneself in the ring, but then we should not be surprised about that, because it is the reality of life as we live it.

Writer-Director Chandor operates like a good bassist in a smooth quartet. If most of the time you don’t hear him, it is because he is doing his job. Our attention is fixed on story and its delineators, the ensemble of actors who walk us through this fiscal debacle so deftly and quickly that we barely notice how far we have gone until the final scene when Kevin Spacey digs a grave for a beloved trusted companion, one of the few pure friendships unsullied by greed, venality and the will to win at any cost.

Margin Call. See it if you dare.

For the KUSP FILM GANG, this is David Anthony.