Adam McKay's The Big Short is the surprise film of the year for me, featuring storytelling that manages to entertain with biting satire and strong performances, while simultaneously never losing the gravity of the situation in the story it portrays. The film is centered around a group of outsiders, men who work on Wall Street but don't think like most on Wall Street, whom predict the upcoming credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s. Taking advantage of the big banks own greed and ignorance, these men bet against the American Economy, with the potentially upcoming economic collapse promising to pay them billions. The Big Short is a film that rubs your bell and whispers sweet nothing in your ear as it slowly reveals the monstrosities committed by the big banks, decisions which would leave millions homeless, jobless, and penny-less. The Big Short is very playful, considering the gravitas of its subject-matter, but this decision works beautifully to the film's advantage, managing to give the The Big Short a simplified, yet informative approach into the inner working of how corporate greed fueled the collapse of the housing market. The film breaks down some rather complicated and quite frankly boring economic stuff in a very discernible way for the viewer, doing this with glee and disgust as if the filmmakers are still having a hard time even believing that something this absurd actually happened and using humor to dull the pain of this widespread American tragedy. The audience is treated like a guest on this wild and depressing story of greed and ignorance, as The Big Short begins to grow increasingly angry about the value our society places on money over people. There is a quiet cynicism throughout The Big Short's playful storytelling, understated but prudent, almost as if the filmmakers have come to the conclusion that with a story this massively depressing all one can do is laugh at the absurdity. The Big Short is really a film about best interests and how pieces of paper have devalued our own sense of humanity, as even the protagonists of this story find themselves profiting off of the collapse of the American Economy, a collapse that will leave many in need of help. While The Big Short's lighthearted take down of capitalism is its main focus, the film also has something interesting to say about the group think mentality of humanity, exploring how all these banks and financial institutions went along, all believing the good times and money being made could never come to an end. To this point, a lot of detail is given to the group of eclectic characters, from Steve Carrel's short-fused, Mark Baum, to Christian Bale's Michael Burry, the outsiders who went against the flow of the banks and financial institutions, unable to merely accept the ignorance and greed coming from these institutions about a flawed Housing Market which could never last. The Big Short is a an energetic examination of corporate greed that is part farce, part heist film, part comedy, and part tragedy, being one of the most interesting and compelling Hollywood films of the year.
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June 2023
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