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“The
Big Short” is directed by Adam McKay and it stars Steve Carell, Christian Bale,
Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt amongst others.
This review contains spoilers.
In
2008, Wall Street guru Michael Burry realizes that a number of subprime home
loans are in danger of defaulting. Burry bets against the housing market by
throwing more than $1 billion of his investors' money into credit default
swaps. His actions attract the attention of banker Jared Vennett played by Ryan
Gosling, hedge-fund specialist Mark Baum played by Steve Carell and other
greedy opportunists. Together, these men make a fortune by taking full
advantage of the impending economic collapse in America.
First
and foremost, this film is extremely well acted and if only for that, you
should watch the film if you haven’t done so already. But I’ll get to that a
bit later.
Adam
McKay resorts to a documentary type of filmmaking, breaking the fourth wall having
characters talk directly to the camera and using it as means to explain the
sometimes complicated terms and plot points a film like “The Big Short”
inevitably has. Not only does he do that but he goes a step further by having
popular celebrities (promptly introduced by the characters) explain these
complicated terms. This happens two or three times in the film if I recall
correctly.
“The
Big Short” is almost inevitably an original film when we talk about its
execution. It’s not a type of film you’ll see very often. It doesn’t seem to
follow the usual structure you usually find in most scripts. It seems to dive
right into the story proving exposition and setup in a very unusual way. It seems chaotic, especially in the first 10
to 20 minutes while we, the audience, are still adjusting to the film’s
language. It’s almost impossible for me
not to think about films like “The Wolf of Wall Street” or “Goodfellas”. It’s
extremely fast paced and like the previous examples, characters break the
fourth wall frequently. It feels like a Scorcese film on steroids. But, unlike
Scorcese, McKay isn’t going for a classic structure in his storytelling. It’s
hard to find a true story arch in “The Big Short” and maybe it’s not even
necessary. The choice of shooting this film almost like a documentary by
resorting to a shaky camera, actors out of focus and so on, allows McKay to
consciously break a lot of rules. Things like continuity are never an issue in
a film like this. When I say this, I don’t mean, in any way, that this is way
to cheat or avoid a theoretically more difficult form of filmmaking. To break
the rules you first need to master them. And “The Big Short” is a fine example
of that. While it might seem chaotic at first glance, the film is extremely
well organized and structured.
I
didn’t particularly like having popular celebrities explain complex terms to
the audience. The first time it happens, it’s Margot Robbie in a bathtub having
some champagne. While I must admit it’s always a pleasure seeing Margot Robbie
do anything it bothered me a little bit because in that case in particular it
seemed like Robbie was playing a character and not being her actual self. That
didn’t happen in the scenes with other celebrities. At least I didn’t feel
that. I would have preferred to have Ryan Gosling do it. He is the character that most often breaks
the fourth wall and moves the plot along delivering exposition very effectively.
So, in my mind, it would have made more sense that he explained whatever needed
explaining at point A or B. It might have been a good idea on paper but the end
result didn’t work for me. Despite this being a historical piece in the sense
that it’s depicting actual events at a very specific time in our history these
cutaways to the celebrities will inevitably date the film in years to come.
Although
“The Big Short” is dealing with very serious matters the film can easily be classified as a black comedy. It’s
extremely funny and entertaining all the way through. Approaching this material
as a full-blown drama might have resulted in a less original film and probably
a lot harder to grab the masses. Plus, it would have been very difficult to
relate to these protagonists when they are betting on the rest of the world’s
downfall. But even with that in mind, McKay doesn’t ignore the facts. At least
two of the characters seem bothered by the events and their actions. Steve
Carell’s Mark Baum might just be the best example of this. It’s the character
that most frequently mirrors the true nature of what they’re trying to achieve.
We see his concern and remorse slowly build up as the story unfolds. If there
is a protagonist in this film it’s Mark Baum. Another example is the secondary
character played by Brad Pitt. In one particular scene he delivers a speech on
how truly horrible it is what they are all doing. What it actually means betting
on the downfall of the economy. A scene that could have easily failed for being
so obviously moral and cheesy in its nature. But it doesn’t. It’s very well written and extremely well
executed by Brad Pitt. It doesn’t insist too much on itself and delivers just
the right amount of consciousness the film and characters need at that point.
And it also prevents the film from completely ignoring the implications of the
horrible story being told.
With
that said I have to turn my attention to the two strongest aspects of “The Big
Short”. The editing and the acting. Let’s start with the editing.
The
editing of this film is masterful. Not even 10 minutes into the film and I was
already wondering if it was nominated for an Oscar. Sure enough, when the movie
was over I quickly grabbed my phone and confirmed my suspicion. It’s the type
of editing that can easily be confused as flashy and pretentious but it’s
really not. As I mentioned before, McKay delivers a film that only seems
chaotic. It’s very well organized and structured and the editing only adds to
that vision. I say again, to break the rules you must first master them. The
editing of this film, much like its cinematography breaks a lot of rules but it
does it brilliantly. Anyone who edits can pick this up very quickly and
recognize the amount of craft needed to pull it off so effectively. Cutting
away mid sentence, jump-cutting during dialogues and actions. It’s marvelous to
watch and learn. It’s not something we haven’t seen in other films. We have.
But at this level only a few films can compete. Soderbergh’s “Traffic” is one
example I can recall right now.
Now
the acting. At the top of my list is Steve Carell who once again proves he is
at the top of his game and probably one of the best actors working today. His
interpretation of Mark Baum is fantastic. Whenever he was in a scene I was
smiling. He was stealing the show every time. His acting range and the level of
performance he commits to any role he plays is sometimes underestimated. I’m
glad he took a step back from his earlier roles and is now venturing into more
demanding material and blowing our minds in the process. An Oscar will come
soon enough.
Christian
Bale is Christian Bale. Absolutely brilliant in everything he does. His Michael
Burry is extremely well interpreted. Once again Bale gives his body and soul to
the character and you don’t even need 5 seconds to forget it’s Christian Bale.
He is the character instantly. The physicality, the voice, everything falls
into place seamlessly. Enough said.
Ryan
Gosling works wonderfully. He’s extremely funny and fills in the shoes of the
narrator, if we can call him that, perfectly. I don’t want to write another 10
pages on Gosling but I do think he reveals some problems as an actor although
in this film he works extremely well. What I mean is, looking at his past films
I do feel he lacks a bit of range or is maybe reluctant to venture into
stranger waters. This character reminded me, sometimes, of his character in
“Crazy, Stupid, Love”. Of course they are different and Gosling is at the very
least always competent. But I still think he could do more and probably can do
more.
Brad
Pitt is a joy to watch. I’ve always admired his work and in “The Big Short” he
leaves his mark. With a minor role and only appearing from time to time he
still manages to be brilliant. His character is very interesting and his almost
absence of emotion is perfect. He conveys so much doing so very little. It’s
not for everyone. I loved every second of him in this film.
My
honorable mentions, if you will, go to Finn Wittrock and John Magaro. They form
a great duo mirroring the innocence of age oblivious to the lager picture of
what is going on. They deliver solid performances and fit in perfectly with the
rest of the cast.
It’s
sad to see Marisa Tomei with so little to do but what she does works very well.
It’s very obvious that there wasn’t a lot of character development for her to
work with but even so, she does her job competently.
So I
think I’ve rambled on long enough about this film. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It’s a great film from start to finish even with some reservations I have here
and there. It’s very original and it manages to depict truly dramatic events
camouflaged in an extremely funny black comedy. Great directing, mind blowing
editing, outstanding performances, fantastic writing. All the right ingredients
for a very polished and sophisticated film. “The Big Short” should stand the
test of time with its excellent craft even if some elements do date it.
I
hope you enjoyed this review and I wish you a wonderful day.
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