Yes, as the name suggests, the film Arbitrage is about hedge fund management and business, but first time director Nicholas Jarecki has readily laced it with intriguing family drama to bring it to the taste of average moviegoers.
Somehow written on the backdrop of the recent financial crisis, the film Arbitrage illustrates the selfishness and acquisitiveness of the so-called long tail moneyed classes.
The world of business is certainly not clear as a mirror; its dirt and disturbing deeds are all saved under the power of money, away from the public glare. Well, in the story when you first meet one of the 21st-century business tycoons and a dubious hedge-fund manager Robert Miller (Richard Gere) on his 60th birthday on a family dinner, the elation is there with all aristocratic settings.
However, the true character unfolds when Miller’s fraudulent activities come to the fore with his daughter, Brooke (Brit Marling) – who also happens to be his chief accountant – discovering cooked financial books of his company. In fact, it is the miller who knowingly falsified his accounts to cover up one of his unsuccessful investments in a failed Russian copper mine that forced him to sell his company to a bank.
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The film is about the top-notch in Wall Street or those in the American business who can go to any extent to save their life and empire. Interestingly, Miller who gives value to his family never even shy away from having an extramarital affair with a French art-dealer Julie Cote (Laetetia Casta).
At a time when he was desperately trying to sell his business in order to hide a $400 million loss, he found his life upturned, when he met an accident with his French mistress, who died on the spot, leaving Miller with one option – to flee the scene. The next was obvious when the director tried to bring some kind of suspense by introducing NYPD detective Bryer (Tim Roth) who was pretty much sure that Miller had killed Julie.
Now several questions and possibilities may linger in our head. Has he left evidence of his presence in the car? Can he be connected to this death? Will he be able to complete the sale of his company on time and what about his family? Well, you got to watch, not just to get answers to these questions but to witness one of the finest performances by Gere. At 63, Richard Gere is the same charming and charismatic actor who we first saw in the likes of An Officer and a Gentleman and Pretty Woman.
Star Cast: Richard Gere as Robert Miller, Susan Sarandon as Ellen Miller, Tim Roth as Detective Bryer, Brit Marling as Brooke Miller, Laetitia Casta as Julie Cote, Nate Parker as Jimmy Grant, Stuart Margolin as Syd Felder, Chris Eigeman as Gavin Briar, Graydon Carter as James Mayfield, Bruce Altman as Chris Vogler.
Genre: Crime Drama
Written and Directed by Nicholas Jarecki
Cinematography by Yorick Le Saux
Edited by Douglas Crise
Release Date/Year: January 21, 2012 (Sundance Film Festival); September 14, 2012 (United States)
Where to watch "Arbitrage" (2012)
