A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to watch "The Big Short" for the first time, a 2015 film directed by Adam Mackey (whom many of us know from the relatively recent "Don't Look Up") that, based on real-life events, revolved around the 2007/2008 real estate crisis and a group of people who managed to use it to their advantage by betting against the market.
Thus, we were faced with a fairly fast-paced drama, which seemed to be loosely supported by the fame garnered by films like The Wolf of Wall Street, beautifully interweaving the excesses of the so-called "finance bros" with the irreversible damage they ended up causing in conjunction with the world's largest banks, a tragedy that left millions of people destitute in the United States and cost more than one person their lives.
"The Big Short" presents itself as a fairly solid satire, something that makes the bitterest moments of its own premise infinitely more manageable, constantly breaking the fourth wall and utilizing a style of humor that works very well within the film: cynical, sharp, but delivered in just the right amount so as not to be repulsive.
Structurally speaking, although understanding the plot involves a large number of more or less profound financial-related concepts, the film regularly interrupts its own rhythm with segments created to explain them in the simplest possible way, utilizing cameos from stars like Margot Robbie, Selena Gomez, and even the excellent Anthony Bourdain. These segments end up being some of the film's best moments and demonstrate an irreverence that elevates the overall product to another level.
The Big Short is a solid film, with a brilliant script and a cast packed with an obscene amount of stars: Ryan Gosling, Steve Carrell, Brad Pitt, and Marissa Tomei are just a few of the most notable examples...
Obviously, it falls far short of the grandeur of a Scorsese classic, but it feels fresh at the beginning and devastating at the end, which fits perfectly with the story it's telling. Adam McKey makes us complicit in his joke and ends everything with a devastating punchline.
This score was taken from my Letterboxd account.
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