One good thing about the recent financial scandals and banking crisis has been the spate of excellent films that cover the subject one way or another. From ‘Margin Call’, the documentary ‘Inside Job’ to ‘The Big Short’, earlier this year, the subject has proved to be surprisingly fertile for film makers. ‘Equity’ doesn’t quite reach the heights of those but is far better than say, the hyped-up and unsubtle ‘Wall Street’ from 1987.
It is an intelligent drama starring Anna Gunn as an investment banker recovering from her last major deal going badly wrong. She is heading-up an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for an upcoming tech firm. Meanwhile, investigator Alysia Reiner is looking into murky dealings by Gunn’s colleague and lover, played by James Purefoy.
The strong point of the film is the screenplay which was written by Reiner, Amy Fox, and Sarah Megan Thomas. Complex financial issues are made easy enough to understand without impacting the pace of the film. Thomas also contributes the best, most nuanced performance in the film as Gunn’s ambitious assistant. In fact, all of the cast are pretty good, except for Lee Tergesen as Gunn’s boss. His caricatured portrayal seems to have come from a different movie.
Compelling, despite pretty much all of the characters being manipulative and devious – which feels right bearing in mind their line of work – this is a film that seems to be destined to be largely and unfairly overlooked. Also, like the other film I’ve reviewed this week it has an unexpected but great ending.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10