Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt are all set to take on a vast criminal conspiracy.
This is no mob movie however, at least not in the traditional sense. Our heroes, who go to some pains to tell us they are not actual heroes, are from Wall Street. Writer-Director Adam McKay’s The Big Short follows four men who saw the writing on the wall prior to the collapse of the US housing market in 2008, and made moves to win big.
The cast of The Big Short features some instantly recognisable names, however they make themselves unrecognisable in service of the film. Christian Bale disappears behind a vale of verbal and physical neurosis, transforming into genius financial investor Dr Michael Burry, a mess of complete self-confidence and crippling social awkwardness. Ryan Gosling plays the polar opposite of Burry, slick as a snake-oil salesman who wields charm like a man taking what he wants at knife-point. Relative newcomers Finn Wittrock and John Magaro play relative newcomers Charlie and Jamie, two bright kids who buy into Burry’s thesis but lack the reputation to do anything about it - unless they can gain the help of ex-Wall street player Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt), a man who had seen the industry’s ugly face and wants nothing to do with it. The quartet is rounded out by McKay regular Steve Carrell, with a brilliant turn as tortured money manager Mark Baum.
There are times when The Big Short feels like a documentary on speed. The editing and sound design create a collage of imagery that bubbles under the main drama. As Michael Burry analyses the sub-prime mortgages on which the house of cards is built, images flash of ordinary people; moving into their houses, washing their cars, celebrating - all to remind us that these are not just numbers and acronyms, they are people. McKay employs all the tricks of the trade to explain some very complicated concepts. The most obvious of theses are the celebrity cameos, which I won’t spoil here but suffice it to say if economics had been taught this way at my school I might have been more interested. McKay’s great achievement is that he never is never condescending with his audience, he is putting complicated ideas and complex emotions on the screen, and he directs the audience’s attention where it needs to be. Perhaps the moment that will stay with me the most is the point at which the young Charlie and Jamie are celebrating their success at beating the system, only to be reminded by a sombre Rickard that the system preys on real people. The scene showcases how McKay has made us root for these outsiders, how he has made us familiar with the complex world of the film, but also forces us to think about the consequences outside of the film’s narrative - a spectacular achievement in direction.
Many interviews and reviews have made reference to Director Adam McKay’s background in comedies like Anchorman, and while some have pointed out that there has always been a vein of social and political commentary running through his work, the implication is generally that an Oscar nominated Drama was something of a left-turn for the director. It brings to mind what Neil Gaiman had to say of the late Terry Pratchett; that his reputation as a jolly and affable fellow obscured the fact that what made his writing so essential was the inner-fury driving his sometimes savage satire of the world. If The Big Short succeeds in eliciting one emotion it is anger. Anger at the collapse, anger at the system for collapsing, anger at the people who allowed such a system to exist. What is even more striking is that The Big Short is not a satire at all.
The main thesis of The Big Short is that the entire financial sector was ‘asleep at the wheel’. The 2008 financial crisis should have been a rude wakeup call, if only people had understood just what the hell was going on. The Big Short uses some very smart tactics to unravel a complicated mess so that the average audience can understand, and goes farther to explain why they should be outraged. While fulfilling the remit of a mainstream film to entertain, The Big Short manages to educate, and at times it even enrages. In the 1980s Wall St taught us that ‘Greed is Good’, The Wolf of Wall Street seemed to suggest that excess is somehow supposed to be entertaining, The Big Short tells us that this is all bullshit, I know which film I believe.
WHO: Adam McKay - the director infuses his film with character
WHAT: What the hell is a Collateralised Debt Obligation? You’ll find out…
WHY: This film is more entertaining than half of the comedies I've seen this year.
WHEN: Before it doesn’t win Best Picture. So you can tell people why it should have.
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