'ARBITRAGE': Three Stars (Out of Five)
A movie where the hero is also the movie's main villain and who better than Richared Gere to play the role. The film tells the story of a billionaire businessman (Gere) who is attempting to sell his company, while covering up it's massive losses, as well as avoid going to prison for vehicular manslaughter. It's another film that tries to present a vile human being as a relatable person. It co-stars Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth and Brit Marling and was written and directed by first time feature filmmaker Nicholas Jarecki. The movie is aptly directed and well cast but it deals with such immoral behavior by it's central character that it's hard to like.
Gere plays Robert Miller, a hedge fund manager who lost his company huge sums of money on a big deal gone sour and is now trying to cover it up and sell the company before anyone know it's true value. He's married with two kids (that work for him at his company) but he also has a mistress, named Julie (Laetitia Casta), that he's constantly trying to please as well. When Julie is killed in a car accident, with him at the wheel, he flees the scene and involves an unwitting friend, Jimmy (Nate Parker), in covering up his involvement. A police detective (Roth) is on to him and threatens to send Jimmy to prison for over a decade if he doesn't cooperate. At the same time his daughter (Marling) is on to his business crimes and Robert has to deal with her as well.
The movie is an interesting crime film; it does definitely keep your attention. It's also very dark and cynical but that's not the problem I had with it. I don't mind movies that focus on bad people as long as they're portrayed that way but here it seems like the movie is still trying to send us the message that Miller is still a good guy. Credit definitely has to be given to Gere's performance because he does play the conflicted character well and he does make him seem almost relatable. We all justify and rationalize our actions in our own minds and I guess this movie does a good job of showing how Miller is still able to sleep at night. Still the things he does in the film are despicable and I can't give a completely positive review to something that almost seems to encourage immoral behavior. It's definitely well made and involving though.
A movie where the hero is also the movie's main villain and who better than Richared Gere to play the role. The film tells the story of a billionaire businessman (Gere) who is attempting to sell his company, while covering up it's massive losses, as well as avoid going to prison for vehicular manslaughter. It's another film that tries to present a vile human being as a relatable person. It co-stars Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth and Brit Marling and was written and directed by first time feature filmmaker Nicholas Jarecki. The movie is aptly directed and well cast but it deals with such immoral behavior by it's central character that it's hard to like.
Gere plays Robert Miller, a hedge fund manager who lost his company huge sums of money on a big deal gone sour and is now trying to cover it up and sell the company before anyone know it's true value. He's married with two kids (that work for him at his company) but he also has a mistress, named Julie (Laetitia Casta), that he's constantly trying to please as well. When Julie is killed in a car accident, with him at the wheel, he flees the scene and involves an unwitting friend, Jimmy (Nate Parker), in covering up his involvement. A police detective (Roth) is on to him and threatens to send Jimmy to prison for over a decade if he doesn't cooperate. At the same time his daughter (Marling) is on to his business crimes and Robert has to deal with her as well.
The movie is an interesting crime film; it does definitely keep your attention. It's also very dark and cynical but that's not the problem I had with it. I don't mind movies that focus on bad people as long as they're portrayed that way but here it seems like the movie is still trying to send us the message that Miller is still a good guy. Credit definitely has to be given to Gere's performance because he does play the conflicted character well and he does make him seem almost relatable. We all justify and rationalize our actions in our own minds and I guess this movie does a good job of showing how Miller is still able to sleep at night. Still the things he does in the film are despicable and I can't give a completely positive review to something that almost seems to encourage immoral behavior. It's definitely well made and involving though.