Margin Call makes rich jerks entertaining

Margin Call (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. J.C. Chandor. Starring Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons.

Gripping thriller based on an untapped source of contemporary drama: the collapse of Wall Street.

Margin Call is a semi-true thriller about the panic at an unnamed major investment bank during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. Just after the first round of layoffs, a junior employee (Zachary Quinto) discovers that the mortgage-backed securities into which the firm is heavily invested are on the brink of becoming worthless-a development that will bankrupt the company. During a sleepless night, the firm's executives must decide whether to hold onto the assets and go down in flames, or pawn them off to unsuspecting buyers before the market can react, crashing the economy and ruining their reputations.

All of this is very technical and complicated, but the characters take the courtesy of explaining everything to us repeatedly in progressively simpler terms as they move up the chain of command. By the time they reach the third rundown, where Jeremy Irons' CEO character demands things be explained to him as though he were "a five year old or a golden retriever," the pretense that this is for anyone's benefit but ours starts to get a bit stretched. But at least Zachary Quinto stops short of speaking directly to the camera with puppets on his hands.

Margin Call's levels of tension and intrigue are surprisingly high for a story about investment bankers, and one whose outcome we already know (the cardboard box I live in is a constant reminder). But its real strength is in the great variety of vivid personalities it introduces and rattles around in an extreme situation to see what breaks. With its impressive ensemble cast, the film sells the idea that these are indeed some of the world's most brilliant people-people who, in a recurring theme, often left careers doing more meaningful and productive work to pursue a paycheque in the financial industry. The story builds up their mystique then tears it down in a web of tears and excuses with the discovery of how clueless they truly are. The depictions are frank but not judgmental.

As the only employee with any particular qualms about the company's actions, Kevin Spacey's character becomes the film's moral center by default. A subplot about his dying dog ties into the story's exploration of the divide between reality ("real" problems and "real" work) and the shuffling of imaginary capital that consumes the lives of each of the characters. For me, this symbolic undercurrent never quite came together in the film, but it adds character.

First-time director J.C. Chandor will be someone to watch.
Rated R for capital crimes.
4 out of 5