Movie Review: Arbitrage

Nicolas Jarecki's film tells the events unfolding in a few days in the life of a billionaire. The billionaire, Robert Miller(Richard Gere) has everything going for him at sixty. He has a beautiful family and a successful business. When the movie opens up, he is trying to sell his business although his grown up children, who also work for him, are surprised. He is quitting when he is still riding high. Unknown to the outside world, everything is not everywhere near bright beneath what is being projects. There are events happening which could derail Miller's plan.

The film is an interesting watch because of two things, the structure of the movie and the performance. The screenplay is penned by the director himself. The movie opens up with the busy and happy life of Miller. Then it slowly shows the darker side of Miller. The first act is slow but the tempo picks up when Miller gets into trouble. As the movie progresses, Nicolas Jarecki paints his lead player in such a way that it is impossible to categorize him. All this is made possible by Richard Gere. Richard Gere looks younger than his years and also portrays the many emotions of Miller to create conflicting emotions in the viewer. Though there are other seasoned performers like Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth, all of them are overshadowed by Richard Gere.

The movie is based on the world of finance. Luckily for us, the director does not get into the jargon and confuse us. Instead he focuses on the self-created trappings of success. Finally, this movie could also have been a thriller. Instead the director focuses on the drama while building tempo by borrowing shades of a thriller. 

Definitely worth a watch for the direction and the performance.

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Rating: ***

For trailer, click here.

-->

Comments

  1. Your review is spot on. I liked this movie very much because of Richard Gere's performance. It's sad that he didn't even got an Oscar nomination.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Feels like a must-watch movie... Will try it out soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i have it with me...... will be watching soon.... though a bit surprised that this movie got a lot of recognition at Gloden globe.... but none at Acadamy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure how the award game works. I hope you enjoy the movie just like me. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment