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The Day Before the End

A look at JC Chandor’s Berlinale Competition film MARGIN CALL, a positive byproduct of the financial crisis.


MARGIN CALL

Everyone knows it: bankers wear stylish suits but they are amoral and greedy. If you doubt it, just look at JC Chandor’s Berlinale Competition film MARGIN CALL.

Peter (Zachary Quinto) is an entry-level analyst at a major investment firm that could easily be named Lehman Brothers. While working extra hours, he discovers scary figures. His company bought and sold financial goods without value. The money just isn’t there anymore. Peter calls his supervisor Will (Paul Bettany), but there’re still a lot of people over their heads. Will works for Sam (Kevin Spacey), who takes his orders from Jared (Simon Baker), who can’t decide anything without the super big boss John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), whom they finally wake up in the middle of the night.

In a few hours, it will be the end of the world – at least, for thousands of American families who’ll be ruined by the 2008 stock market crash – because Eric (Stanley Tucci), the best risk manager of the company, is suddenly made redundant and leaves some terrible news on his computer. But for these professional gamblers, this is only one of many storms. Not the first one. Nor the last one. Their priority is now to decide the failsafe strategy. If they keep their discovery secret, the bank will fail. If they don’t, the entire financial market will fail. Each character has to determine who he’s running for: the bank, the investors or himself.

American filmmaker JC Chandor finds an unusual approach to depict the frantic last 24 hours before the drama, far away from the ostentatious, chatty and show-off Oliver Stone’s WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS. Chandor chooses to show the calm before the storm. His protagonists – perfectly cast – are surprisingly placid as is the camera which follow them slowly; and it has two opposite effects. Seeing them so unmoved by the future consequences of their acts makes them hateful. But seeing them quietly tackling the problem like they would do with any other mathematical issue makes them look like regular people just doing their jobs and following orders.

Quinto’s character is the backbone of this silent tragedy. Thanks to his soothing presence, this potentially feel-bad movie retains a certain element of hope. Not that Peter is so much better a guy. Like his colleagues, this engineer who became a banker is an accomplice of the system. But at least he doesn’t believe in it and may be the only one to understand the border between the speculative and the real. As he said, he’s here just for the money. To conclude: this film may be one of the only positive results of the financial slump.


301 Moved Permanently

301 Moved Permanently


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