20131225: Drama Review--Arbitrage

Arbitrage

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 107 minutes, drama, thriller.
2. IMDB: 6.7/10.0 from 29,179 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 12 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 87% on the meter; 63% liked it from 50,901 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.5/5.0 from 578,823 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Nicholas Jarecki.
6. Starring: Richard Gere as Robert Miller, Susan Sarandan as Ellen Miller, Tim Roth as Detective Michael Bryer, Brit Marling as Brooke Miller, Laetitia Casta as Julie Cote, Nate Parker as Jimmy Grant, Stuart Margolin as Syd Felder, Chris Eigeman as Gavein Briar.


2. Setup and Plot
1. At his 60th birthday, Robert seems to have it all: loving wife, two successful adult children who are close to him, a net worth in the billions, a beautiful artist who is his lover, and a company he is about to sell for a great deal of financial advantage.


2. However, there are a number of hanging weaknesses.  An audit will not go through which would pave the way for the sale.  The sale, his mistress, his wife, his company, his daughter, and his friend who lent him millions of dollars are all tugging him in different directions.  The CEO of the company who wants to buy his company will not meet with him directly.


3. Just to make things enormously worse, Robert goes for a drive with Julie, falls asleep at the wheel, and crashes her car.  Julie dies.  He barely struggles out of the car.  As he hobbles away from it, the car bursts into fire.  Robert makes his way to a truck stop and calls a person whom he thinks he can trust.  He goes to the art gallery that Julie ran, and destroys evidence.  He makes his way home, treats his wounds as best he can, and get in bed with Ellen, his wife.


4. Robert has to figure out how to find the reason the audit is delayed, what he can do to quash the NYPD's investigation of Julie's murder, and keep Brooke, his business brilliant daughter, from figuring out some financial irregularities.  He has to find a way to meet and negotiate directly with the man who wants to buy his company.


5. Just when Robert thinks he has it all figured out, and all his ducks are in a row again, Ellen lets him know this is not the case.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Everything has a price, sometimes rather high for the top one percent.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems; well shot.


2. Sound: 10/10 Fine.


3. Acting: 10/10 Fine performances by Richard Gere, Susan Sarandan, Tim Roth, Stuart Margolin, and Nate Parker.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Followed several story threads to a successful resolution.