Margin Call (2011)

Margin Call (2011) 

 

Watching the Movie:

If you like watching people stare blankly into space; swearing, and going back and forth between long winded speeches and extended periods of absolute silence; then this is totally your movie. You will also enjoy it if you have a vested interest in economics; finance, or complex mathematical problem solving. Lastly; if you like seeing people smoke. This movie is for you.

Screening the Film:

Loyalty; to the institution and to the stakeholder. Employment expectations and terms; particularly with how they can be exploited. Crisis management. Information Asymmetries and how they affect informed decision making. Leadership; particularly in the area of decision making and doing the right thing for those led. Quantifying impacts and social responsibility of firms entrusted with massive amounts of resources. Synergy and teamwork. Gratitude vs entitlement; especially as showing gratitude as a result of entitlement.

Best Dialogue:

"So you think we might have put a few people out of business today. That its all for naught. You've been doing that everyday for almost forty years Sam. And if this is all for naught then so is everything out there. Its just money; its made up. Pieces of paper with pictures on it so we don't have to kill each other just to get something to eat. It's not wrong. And it's certainly no different today than its ever been. 1637, 1797, 1819, 37, 57, 84, 1901, 07, 29, 1937, 1974, 1987-Jesus, didn't that fuck up me up good-92, 97, 2000 and whatever we want to call this. It's all just the same thing over and over; we can't help ourselves. And you and I can't control it, or stop it, or even slow it. Or even ever-so-slightly alter it. We just react. And we make a lot money if we get it right. And we get left by the side of the side of the road if we get it wrong. And there have always been and there always will be the same percentage of winners and losers. Happy foxes and sad sacks. Fat cats and starving dogs in this world. Yeah, there may be more of us today than there's ever been. But the percentages-they stay exactly the same"
 

The Bottom Line: 

The problem with Margin Call as a movie is that the people who will enjoy it are the people that will completely miss it's point. The filmmakers were going for a cautionary tale of too few people holding too many resources and having the ability to completely destroy the lives of a considerable amount of the population; and coming out of the 2008 financial crisis, this was a popular motif. Unfortunately; in 2022, that message has been so overplayed across all media that it's lost all meaning, and much of the plot is lost on its intended audience. People who enjoy good writing and amazing acting will love this movie on that point alone. Business, economics and finance nerds will love it because it is a pretty tense story for people in that world. For me though; I look at it mostly from a leadership lens and I am absolutely blown away by how each rung up the leadership ladder approaches the situation, and how little emotion is shown throughout the process. 

As a leader; the advice I always give when asked is the same advice I was always given. "Don't get emotional about the work" That concept is all OVER this film; as despite the dire situation at hand; there is almost no emotion displayed throughout the film (and the biggest display is of an associate crying in a bathroom stall). The cold, calculating reality of business decision making is on full display for an hour and forty-five minutes. It won't entertain everyone; but if you can stomach it, it is absolutely fascinating to watch.

3 out of 5

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

(Video Games) Dispatch

    Dispatch Dispatch before Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ? Yeah. I am as surprised as you. The Usual Video Game Disclaimer Long time followers of my blog know that I don't usually do Video Game reviews. Part of this is because the WTM/STF format doesn't really apply to video game story telling. Movies/Films top out at 3-3.5 hours. Modern video games with a story even worth exploring start at 10-12 hours. There's usually just too much there there to keep up with. The other major reason I don't review video games is that fun is such a subjective and evolving concept. In 1972, Pong was the greatest game ever. It was two sticks passing a digital ball back and forth. In 1980, Pac-Man was the greatest game ever. It was a big yellow circle eating small white circles and running away from multi-colored ghosts; pretty much indefinitely. In 1991 Street Fighter II was the greatest game ever. It was pick one of 8 people (well, 7 people and whatever the hell Blanka is) and beat up ...
Read more

(Video Games) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Image
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 For Ledger: Many people have taught me that tomorrow is not necessarily guaranteed, you taught me that today is not necessarily guaranteed either. Uncle Michael loves you kiddo. You deserved so much better than you got. Rest in Peace little one. The Prophecy Foretold "The studio made their game because they wanted to make a game that they wanted to play themselves. They didn’t make it to increase market shares. They didn’t make it to serve a brand. They didn’t have to meet arbitrary sales targets or fear being laid off if they didn’t meet those targets. Furthermore, the people in charge forbade them from cramming the game with anything whose only purpose was to increase revenue, and didn’t serve the game design. They didn’t treat their developers like numbers on a spreadsheet. They didn’t treat their players as users to exploit, and they didn’t make decisions they knew were shortsighted in function of a bonus or politics. They knew that if you put the g...
Read more

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)

    Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Watching The Movie: Enjoyment of this as a movie is highly correlated to enjoyment of Final Fantasy VII and the universe and lore created therein. However, that's not to say that knowing every aspect of lore around the narrative is necessary. My wife went in knowing very little about FFVII and was not entirely lost in the story. The movie does a good job giving at least a base framework of who the characters are to one another and the general issues going in within the world. If you like frantic, non-stop action then it's likely you'll enjoy watching this movie, even if it is only once. Screening the Film:  Obviously, a movie with the word children in the title will have a few images of the parental relationships, specifically between mothers and sons. There also is significant imagery around familial bonds of siblings with specific focus on brothers. Given the focus on Rufus, the Turks, and Shinra in general, there's some pretty s...
Read more