You probably missed this at your local art house.
*Margin Call *(Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci, Zachary Quinto, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Simon Baker) – As if we needed a darker look at the financial meltdown, *Margin Call* takes us inside one of the big investment banks as manager Eric Dale (played by Stanley Tucci) and an analyst Peter Sullivan (*Star Trek’s *Mr. Spock, Zachary Quinto) reach the conclusion that the house of cards they have created is about to fall. The signs are all there in the models. The firm knew the problem was bad; after all, they had already laid off almost 70 percent of the staff, including Dale. But they had no idea that the problem was this bad. The higher-ups – Sam Rodgers (Kevin Spacey), the loyal company veteran who managed the traders; Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore as the financial executive in a role reminiscent of *Flawless); *Jared Cohen (Simon Baker, who apparently didn’t use his *Mentalist*powers); and John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), the CEO with no heart whatsoever – conspire to limit both the company’s future and their own damage.
What follows is a really dark portrayal of Wall Street. Not exactly a stretch. My own guess is that the real Wall Streeters were really more arrogant and narcissistic than evil, but who knows? *Margin Call *attempts to put us inside the firm in the 24 hours between Dale’s firing and the dismantling of the company. While it succeeds in placing us in the action, *Margin Call* doesn’t reveal much. It doesn’t show us why the sky is falling or how it happened. It creates little human drama outside those of the members of the investment bank. It essentially considers the victims as the company employees who got laid off, not the millions of people who lost much of the value of their 401(k)s. That makes the movie more of a character study than a good, taut conspiracy. Maybe that is exactly that were trying to do.
While the acting is superb (Spacey and Irons are particularly good), the story is too dark, even for me. I don’t expect any Oscar nominations from the film but, if there is, it could go to the two actors I mentioned above. This is a Netflix choice since the film is almost out of all theaters. *Margin Call *is worth a watch but don’t go out of your way.