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Excerpt: Margin Call Opens: April 15th 2011
Summary: A thriller that revolves around the key people at a large investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis when the economic world was on the verge of collapse.
Analysis: A great big ensemble indie drama exploring the tensions at a financial firm in a 24-hour period during the first signs of the economic near collapse on Wall Street in September 2008. The time limit is an odd one for the film as, though the stock drops were fast and the whole month has become known as a horror time for many investors, there wasn't really one single disastrous day ala Black Tuesday. The impact also didn't really flow through on many major businesses until weeks or months down the line.
With many parts of the world still getting over the GFC's impact though, this tale is still very much a relevant one. Shot in New York City this past Summer, the cast list is astonishing - Jeremy Irons as the firm's CEO, Demi Moore as the chief risk management officer, Paul Bettany as a top-tier trader, Simon Baker as a ruthless securities broker, and Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci and Zachary Quinto as analysts who work under Baker's purview. Penn Badgley, Mary McDonnell and Aasif Mandvi also star. Quinto, whose analyst character is the first at the firm to spot the oncoming crisis, is also producing the film which J.C. Chandor directed from a script he wrote that scored high on the 2010 Black List.
The project is set to have its premiere at Sundance shortly and going in is arguably the biggest project, star power wise, of the festival. Will there be much interest though in a film about the depressing economic state of the world? "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" wasn't a particularly big money spinner, can this do better?
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