Taking home an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the start of the year, and a slew of further nominations and wins on the festival circuit, writer-director J.C. Chandor makes one of the memorable debuts in recent memory with Margin Call.
Arguably the best financial thriller ever made, and certainly one of the best dramas in a very long time, Chandor assembles an incredibly impressive ensemble cast for his feature debut, and he and they do not disappoint.
The film is set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, centring on a handful of the key players at a New York investment firm during a critical 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.
One of the things about the financial crisis, in reality, was that it was, in my ways, incomprehensible for a lot of the general public. It wasn’t easy to understand exactly why and how we had got ourselves into this kind of situation, on such a large scale, and across the globe, and there wasn’t a lot you could do to ease that understanding.
What makes Margin Call such an exceptional film is its ability to make such an understanding accessible. It makes this high-stakes world that stands so far apart from most of our everyday lives comprehensible – and, better still, relatable.
It might seem like a cliché to describe it in such a way, but I think one of the main reasons Margin Call was nominated at the Academy Awards was not just the subject matter, but the level of depth Chandor takes us with his characters; every one feels as real as you or me.
When you have a cast as large in size as this – there are nine main characters credits – it’s easy to let some of them fall by the way side or go under-developed, but each one is fully-rounded and very much grounded in reality.
You don’t get a cast as substantial as featuring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Pen Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnel, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci without first having a script with a lot of potential, and this outstanding ensemble succeeds to bring out that potential in spades, with absolutely stellar performances all round.
(On a slightly different note, it’s also terrific to see Quinto making his feature debut as a producer here, having worked on a number of shorts in recent years, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the future projects he helps bring to the big screen.)
Importantly, Chandor’s script is not judgmental, it doesn’t take a righteous tone that it easily could have. What it does is immerse us into this world for this crucial twenty-four(ish)-hour period and hold us utterly captivated within it. It is by far the most compelling film I have seen all year, and I cannot recommend it enough.
[Rating:5/5]
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with writer/director J.C. Chandor and producer Neal Dodson
- Revolving Door: Making Margin Call
- Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary)
- Missed Calls: Moments with Cast & Crew (outtakes)
- From the Deck: Photo Gallery
The most notable here is of course the audio commentary with Chandor himself, alongside producer Neal Dodson, which gives an excellent insight into the film, its production, and the direction of it. The making of is another great segment, albeit fairly short in length, and the two deleted scenes are a good addition, and understandably ultimately excised, as the welcome commentary notes.
[Rating:3.5/5]
Margin Call is released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK today.
