Margin Call - I'm buying it

It's interesting that the Polish title for Margin Call, a riveting financial drama taking place nearly entirely in office interiors, was translated as Greed (Chciwość). There was a good reason to do it as the original term has no direct equivalent that would mean anything to the audience or even sound good, but admittedly some of the film's subtlety has been lost in this process. In fact, spelling it out in no uncertain terms what the film is about is never a good idea, also because Margin Call is about so much more than greed. And because it is a film that is extremely subtle, coming as close as you can get to putting a finger on the fragile psychology of high-level finances.

I watched it today and I will pop in to cinema this Sunday to watch it over. This does not happen a lot with me. My agitation might well ebb away in a day or two, but it's not often that I walk out of the screening room wanting to go back as soon as possible. What was it that made such an impression on me?

It was surely superior acting and writing. As we travel though the organisation from its bottom to the very top, we get to know rank-and-file traders whose job it is to push the buttons on gigantic transactions in the markets few people fully understand, their manipulative managers and the top brass, complete with the company's ruthless mastermind. It's the entire cross-section of the corporation and actors take advantage of the opportunity to portray characters with conflicting motivations and differing work experience just brilliantly.

Quinto on the highway from innocence to corruption

There's the innocent-looking, sharply intelligent but also empathising Zachary Quinto who plays the rocket scientist turned risk analyst who blows the whistle and makes it possible for the company to liquidate its position on what soon will become worthless assets. It's a great character who finds himself at an important junction in his career, having just contributed to the company's success but also beginning to understand the extent of the machinations in the industry driven by talent of people like himself. In one of the final scenes, he is ushered into a top-floor restaurant with a spectacular but sinister view of New York where he is about to get promoted by the company owner. The way he stood up to the challenge on the day of the emergency, combined with his extreme intelligence, make him a perfect candidate to make the corporation even stronger. "It's all hands on deck. There is going to be a lot of money to be made after what happened today", says the tycoon John Tuld (Jeremy Irons).

Spacey in his best film role since American Beauty

Then there's absolutely outstanding Kevin Spacey, a quick-witted mid-level manager Sam Rogers who seeks emotional outlet in looking after his cancer-stricken dog but has no mercy whatsoever when it comes to firing people or manipulating those who escape the axe. He's not an easy character to judge, with his bouts of remorse about the fire sale of the company's junk assets and an aura of rebelliousness. In the top management, he's also the one showing the most human quality. We see him lovingly hugging his dog, listening to classical music in a lonely office room or splashing water on his tired and concerned face as he looks into the mirror. He's less of a corporate robot than others, but in the end he agrees to go ahead with the contingency plan that is at odds with his principles. There's also some kind of fascinating bond between him and Tuld, who both seem to have gone all the way up from rags to riches and struggle to cope with the consequences.   

Tuld: "There are three ways to make a living in this business. Be first, be smart or cheat"

Jeremy Irons gave another marvel performance to watch, but as with others credit for it has to go as far back as the screenwriter J.C. Chandor, who - by the way - directed the film too. Incredibly, Margin Call has been his first feature. Irons makes his first appearance halfway through the story as it becomes clear that the corporation faces a life and death situation. Its very survival is at stake and decisions have to be taken in the right places. Tuld arrives last to what looks like an emergency board meeting and reveals himself as a flamboyant and quick-witted business mastermind. In less than five minutes, having been updated in plain English about what the problem is, he is ready to take an uneasy decision to sell off rubbish assets to unknowing investors before the market discovers what they already know. It's against all standards of the industry and a major blow to the company's reputation, but failure to do so means going out of business. Managers who will have to execute this decision have a couple of hours to set the stage for the operation that due to its major breach of industry trust might as well irreparably snap their careers, to say nothing of its emotional and moral significance.

Apart from acting, Margin Call stands out with its language. It manages to be interesting for the general audience, even though it expresses a complex reality of the investment company. And the way the film captures its application to manipulate each other in a corporation is second to none. Take for example the opening scene when the head of the risk department is being fired by the company lawyer in a series of sharp, officious and ruthlessly efficient instructions. Another trademark corporate speech is given by Kevin Spacey as he motivates the suvivors of layoffs to do better by telling them it is their chance to make the company stronger. Jeremy Irons character speaks virtually only in soundbites, especially when addressing a group of subordinates. His closing lecture on the significance and insignificance of money is beyond comparison.

Finally, I was swept off my feet by the clarity of the film. The storyline manages to capture quite convincingly the workings of a large corporation where responsibility is spread out really thin and multiple levels of authority structure create space for manipulation and personal games. What is especially unnerving about this representation of the financial industry, though, is that it's run by people who have long lost control or even understanding of what they are doing. The ultimate driver of decisions is not careful analysis of facts as it's only rare individuals who are capable of looking into them, but human instincts and raw crowd psychology. Margin Call manages to squeeze a laugh once or twice, like when Spacey or Irons insist that they should be spoken to in plain English only (Tuld: "Talk to me as you would talk to a baby. Or your Labrador retriever") as they can't read graphs or most technical terms, but it's a rather sombre picture of the industry that has grown so important for everyone.