Greed is good, until it isn’t anymore, is Arbitrage, a guilty-pleasure thriller for these tough economic times.
In directing his first feature, writer and documentarian Nicholas Jarecki shows great command of tone — a balance of sex, danger and manipulation with some insiderish business talk and a healthy sprinkling of dark humor to break up the tension.
His film is well-cast and strongly acted, and while it couldn’t be more relevant, it also recalls the decadence of 1980s Wall Street, shot in 35mm as it is, with a synth-heavy score from composer Cliff Martinez (who wrote similar music for Drive).
Richard Gere stars as Robert Miller, a billionaire hedge-fund magnate. As he turns 60, Robert would seem to have it all — looks, wealth, a loving family and respect among his peers. And yet he always wants more, and feels emboldened by the different set of rules and morals that seem to apply in his rarefied world.
TROUBLE
So he “borrows” $417 million from a fellow tycoon to cover a hole in his portfolio and make his company look as stable as possible as it’s about to be acquired by a bank.
This is otherwise known as fraud. And despite the loyalty and support of his smart, beautiful wife (Susan Sarandon), he has a hot (and hot-headed) French mistress on the side (former Victoria’s Secret model Laetitia Casta) who runs in stylish, hard-partying art circles.
Both these schemes explode in his face over the course of a few fateful days. An audit of his firm has raised some red flags, making the potential buyer turn reluctant and evasive. This prompts the suspicions of his devoted daughter (Brit Marling, every bit Gere’s equal), who’s also the company’s chief financial officer and heir apparent.
TRICKY BALANCE
But more immediately and dramatically, Robert is involved in a deadly accident that puts the police on his tail (Tim Roth plays the lead detective with a wonderfully thick New York accent) and requires him to enlist the help of a kid from Harlem (Nate Parker) who’s the son of his ate, longtime chauffeur.
That’s a lot of plates to keep spinning at once; just the financial storyline alone could have sufficed without the affair messing things up further. What’s surprising about Arbitrage is that Jarecki never judges this man for the tricky position he’s gotten himself into, and never tries to steer our feelings toward him, either.
The film’s strong women don’t quite get enough to do until the third act, when Sarandon and Marling both have powerful showdowns with Gere. But the entire supporting cast is well-chosen.
Robert may not learn anything by the end, and actually gets nastier and more demanding as the screws tighten.
As Parker’s character puts it: “You think money is gonna fix this?” Robert doesn’t miss a beat in responding: “What else is there?”
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