Why Margin Call is a better film than The Big Short.
A thread.
A thread.
Over the weekend, I watched Margin Call for the first time, and was struck by the differences with the other great cinematic portrayal of the GFC.
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While both movies have fantastic casts who played their roles to perfection, the intended audience of the two films are very different.
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The Big Short assumes that its audience knows nothing about the housing bubble or the world of high finance, and a lot of the movie is devoted to explaining MBS and related products.
There's even the famous Margot Robbie bathtub scene.
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There's even the famous Margot Robbie bathtub scene.
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That does two things.
It slows talks down to the audience, and it slows down the drama.
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It slows talks down to the audience, and it slows down the drama.
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Margin Call does no such thing. It very, very lightly touches on what the causes of the crisis is, but for the most part you can watch the movie and have no idea it was related to a housing bubble.
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Instead, Margin Call focusses on one thing, and one thing only. What it FEELS like at to be in the room when the house of cards come crashing down.
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If fact, the explanation scene, with Jeremy Irons in the driving seat, is one of the strongest in the whole film:
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And that leaves room, right in the middle of the film for the moment where the main character, that of Kevin Spacey, shifts in tone.
After the first round of people get fired, he tells the remaining staff:
"They were good at their jobs, but you were better."
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After the first round of people get fired, he tells the remaining staff:
"They were good at their jobs, but you were better."
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Then almost exactly at the halfway mark of the film, 41min into the version I watched, comes the moment it dawns on him.
Cohen's character says: "This is like a bad dream."
Spacey: "I don't know, to me it seems we've just woken up."
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Cohen's character says: "This is like a bad dream."
Spacey: "I don't know, to me it seems we've just woken up."
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And by the end, he's questioning whether the business model is morally defendable.
The Big Short sets out to be an explainer, and ends up a factually incorrect documentary. Margin Call puts you right in the room where the decision is made, and shows you what it felt like.
/ends
The Big Short sets out to be an explainer, and ends up a factually incorrect documentary. Margin Call puts you right in the room where the decision is made, and shows you what it felt like.
/ends
