大象传媒

Danny Leigh examines recent movie portrayals of money and the people making it.

JC Chandor's Margin Call takes a naggingly authentic look at the rarified world of investment bankers in 2008, just as Wall Street is about to open up beneath them. Starring Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore and Paul Bettany, its realism stems from its director's upbringing as the son of an investment banker and his many friends who worked on Wall Street.

In Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, Leonardo De Caprio plays crooked stockbroker Jordan Belfort. Unlike Jeremy Iron's loathsome character in Margin Call, movie audiences liked Belfort - and made the film Scorsese's most successful box office draw. Danny says, 'people love a winner... and after seeing the Wall Street guys steal and fleece and fail to even apologise, people wanted someone who was at least honest about his dishonesty.'

Harmony Korine鈥檚 Spring Breakers features four Kentucky girls desperate to head to the sun for the modern American, hedonistic tradition of spring break. Using a restaurant hold-up to pay their way, they enjoy wild times in Florida before winding up in the company of James Franco's character Alien, a 'svengali, drug dealer, rapper and enthusiastic capitalist'. Is this the good life?

Money is the second part of Film Now with Danny Leigh: What the Hell Happened?, a series about film in the 21st century.

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