Writer/director J.C. Chandor’s debut has something of a paradox in it that works both for it and against it. It follows about 30 hours at an investment firm (think Lehman Brothers), when one employee (Zachary Quinto, who also produced) crunches the numbers and discovers the whole company is about to owe more than it’s worth. The news ripples upward overnight, his boss to the next boss to the next, all the way up to the head of the company.
The financial crisis that began in 2008 is a huge event that happened to all of us, is still happening today. Chandor’s focus on the tiniest little slice of it - just a few hours with a few people at one firm at the beginning of it all - is an interesting choice. But therein lies the paradox. The solid ensemble cast gives the script an energy and urgency, but the story feels at times too small for the subject matter. There are moments where that narrow focus is refreshing or intriguing, mainly from a performance standpoint. But in order to keep it small and not get too into the actual numbers and reasons behind it all, it feels like Chandor’s script a little too purposely avoids it. More than one character, on more than one occasion, looks at a graph or a computer screen and says “Explain this to me, you know I don’t understand this stuff.” Maybe that’s a point being made, that the players involved don’t really understand it, but that point without further context and diving into more of the reasons behind the company’s downfall feels like intentional avoidance. I understand the reluctance to dive into that, it’s a huge can of worms that even an award-winning doc like Inside Job struggles to cover completely. And I appreciate the theatrical focus of the one company on one night. But that paradox, that what they’re reacting to is so big and so “now” for all of us, keeps Chandor from fulling addressing it. Again, some of that avoidance and (feigned?) ignorance may be a point, but it doesn’t work for me without some addressing of exactly what they’re ignorant of. A general understanding of the “Great Recession” as a thing that happened isn’t enough when the film’s focus is so fine. Overall, an enjoyable and fantastically acted film, and a great debut for Chandor, but it has some ups and downs, script-wise.
