MARGIN CALL, d. and wr. J.C. Chandor, USA, 2011

I should revisit this review when I don't have a cold-ridden head, but right now I'm going to say that this film - about the early stages of the 'financial crisis', and set at an investment bank - is brilliantly cast, and pretty well written; it also works somewhat as a critique of those who created (or who participated in creating) the mess - although to my mind, it didn't really critique them enough.

The film has a definite feel of Glengarry Glen Ross (d. James Foley, USA, 1992) - the wonderful Al Pacino film penned by David Mamet, about a bunch of colleagues pitted against each other in a sales competition at a real estate office in Chicago. Of course there's nothing wonderful about the worlds inhabited by the characters of each film - manipulative, selfish, money-obsessed greed-driven as they are. However, both films share insightful writing about the lack of self-confidence at the base of many participants' place in such worlds, and also work to reveal the unethical nature of the world and its inhabitants without oversimplifying such criticism. 

Margin Call boasts a remarkable cast - not least of whom is Simon Baker, even if he's one of the less well-known. Jeremy Irons is particularly chlilling, while Paul Bettany is remarkable. I also think Kevin Spacey (who was in GGR!) performs brilliantly, but balked somewhat at the way his character is written for 'sympathy' in some ways: it's not convincing (not to me, anyway), and in that respect I'm kind of with Keremy Irons' character: these guys don't only know what's been happening, but have made their entire fortunes out of screwing people over - so there's little sympathy for any who might have moral pangs at this late stage(!). Demi Moore is also in this film - and her role is a pretty good one. The film doesn't fail in its gendered representation, either: she's convincingly cast, and her role pans out just as one might suspect it would in such a male-dominated 'culture', however key she might seem at some stages to the firm's ongoing success.

Worth watching just for the acting and the dialogue, I'd really recommend this one, despite its flaws. It's not quite Glengarry Glen Ross - but it's got enough of that film about it to make it enjoyable as well as depressing, I think!