is Mr. Chandor’s first feature. His formal command—his ability to imply far more than he shows or says and to orchestrate a large, complex drama out of whispers, glances, and snippets of jargon—is downright awe inspiring." In 2022, Bloomberg News financial columnist Matt Levine said that Margin Call was "the best finance movie". Themes Roger Ebert wrote: "I think the movie is about how its characters are concerned only by the welfare of their corporations. There is no larger sense of the public good. Corporations are amoral, and exist to survive and succeed, at whatever human cost. This is what the Occupy Wall Street protesters are angry about: They are not against capitalism, but about Wall Street dishonesty and greed. ... [The cast] reflects the enormity of what is happening: Their company and their lives are being rendered meaningless." A. O. Scott wrote: "Margin Call is a thriller, moving through ambient shadows to the anxious tempo of Nathan Larson’s hushed, anxious score. It is also a horror movie, with disaster lurking like an unseen demon outside the skyscraper windows and behind the computer screens. It is also a workplace comedy of sorts. The crackling, syncopated dialogue and the plot, full of reversals and double crosses, owe an obvious debt to David Mamet’s profane fables of deal-making machismo. Hovering over all of it is the dark romance of capital: the elegance of numbers; the kinkiness of money; the deep, rotten, erotic allure of power." Although the film does not depict any real Wall Street firm, and the fictional firm is never named, the plot has similarities to some events during the 2008 financial crisis: Goldman Sachs similarly moved early to hedge and reduce its position in mortgage-backed securities, at the urging of two employees, which essentially mirrors Tuld's comment about the advantage of moving first. Lehman Brothers moved second and went bankrupt. John Tuld's name is said to be a combination of Merrill Lynch's ex-CEO John Thain and Lehman Brothers' ex-CEO Richard Fuld. Accolades See also The Big Short (film) Inside Job (2010) The Hummingbird Project Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Great Recession Too Big to Fail (film) The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film) References Footnotes External links 2011 directorial debut films 2011 drama films 2011 films 2011 independent films 2011 thriller drama films American independent films American business films American thriller drama films Films about financial crises Films directed by