Movie Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Dear readers,
I am a medical doctor in practice for 30 years. I have learned the value of careful observation. I try to limit comments on any subject to my observations until I gain enough knowledge for my opinion to be of value. I hope that it may be of value to you. I intend to share my opinions here on experiences, arts and events as I encounter them.
For today's topic, I chose to review the Oliver Stone directed movie, 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" over other potential topics, including; "My Impressions of Opening Night at the New York Metropolitan Opera, 'Das Rheingold'", or "Description of an Authentic Nandi Warrior Lion Hunt". (My social media savvy daughter recommended sticking with topics of potentially broader mass appeal.)
Movie Review:
"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", released September 2010, is a portrayal of corruption and decay of American culture, which has been seemingly purchased wholesale by businessmen of unlimited greed and arrogance. I love the topic, having recently finished Michael Lewis' book, "The Big Short", and settled into my movie theater chair, ready for a meal of red meat. I left the movie house feeling as if I'd been served a turkey burger, but that some of the side dishes were actually of gourmet quality.
Sensually, the cinematography is a pleasure to experience, showing a fantasy land of glass offices and apartments and numerous vivid close-ups of human imperfections, that must have been intentionally left unmasked by professional makeup efforts. My favorite scene is of a gala charity event with the camera focusing closely on numerous obscene but spectacular pieces of jewelry worn by former beauties, shown too closely to hide their flawed, aging, complexions. The effect was fantastic and I couldn't turn away. The scene echoes Versailles just before the French Revolution. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the visual spectacle was distracted to annoyance by a musical score I could not understand or appreciate.
Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko unchained, released upon the world, performs professionally, and his screen presence is enhanced by his aging. He delivers my favorite line of the film, "I've been considered a pretty smart guy and maybe I was in prison too long, but sometimes it's the only place to stay sane and look out through those bars and say, 'Is everybody out there nuts?" Josh Brolin artfully achieves the role of Bretton, not Brett, James, a handsome, sophisticated financial executive targeted for destruction after selling his soul to the corrupt business system. Is he the son eaten by Saturn, a.k.a. Julie, displayed in his own office painting which he destroys in a rage after being exposed and humiliated?
Susan Sarandon produces an acting gem as Jacob Moore's mother, a chain-smoking, house flipping addict who crashes, but does not burn when her son stops supporting her habit. She undergoes a remarkable and believable redemption, displaying humanity and purpose when she is forced to return to her previous career as a medical nurse. Eli Wallach is unforgettable as "Julie", the figure of Satan, taunting and twisting the knife into his heir apparent, Bretton James, and appearing in rapture at the thought of the "End of the World" by a potential global financial collapse.
Shia LaBeouf as Jacob Moore and Terry Mulligan as Winnie Gekko give performances I can't follow. I confess that I couldn't wait for them to be off the screen.
On balance, this is a film worth enduring, warts and all. It brings to mind a quote from Carlo Marx, a character from Jack Kerouac's book, "On the Road" of 1955. "What is the meaning of this voyage to New York? What kind of sordid business are you on now? I mean, man, whither goest thou? Whither goes thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?"