Staged around the world street, Margin Call follows a notable 24 hours during the financial crisis of 2008 where a financial analyst is about to expose the activities of some of the key players at an investment firm.
A Wall Street version of 'Glengarry Glen Ross' in which the weak are whisked aside and the alpha dogs stick around long enough to fill their pockets with millions of other people's money.
... digs into the how and why of the market crash, not just in terms of economics but in the culture of Wall Street and the justifications that individuals tell themselves in order to follow the company line.
Gets the little details right, the way everyone is one bad week away from being homeless, the way you can have a conversation with a colleague with the cleaning lady standing in between you and no one will ever even acknowledge that she's there.
It's a realistic take on what happens when high-flying money speculators suddenly hit ground. It's also a great calling card for J.C. Chandor, the writer/director making his feature debut.
Big Hollywood
June 30, 2013
A well-told and credible look at the economic collapse from the perspective of one company's employees.
In Margin Call, first time writer-director JC Chandor creates a humanizing insight into the lives of the bankers who discovered the fall of the economy.
Margin Call is Wall Street for now. That a sexy Gordon Gekko-type villain is no longer anywhere to be found shows just how much worse things really are today.
Chandor proffers a cross-section of a Lehman Brothers-esque company as the realisation dawns that sub-prime speculation has brought the market to an ominous tipping point.
