"Big Short" is actually not as complicated as you think

Johnnie 2022-03-14 14:12:21

There are few masterpieces about financial topics, and many of them put a lot of professional vocabulary in front of you, letting you guess what they mean. Or the whole film tells various business battles, but it still makes people drowsy. But after watching this "Big Short", I was stunned-it turns out that commercial war movies can still be shot like this!

"Big Short" is a movie directed by Adam McKay in 2015. There are many stars. I don't know how he invited so many stars. The film uses the biggest financial crisis in the history of the United States in 2008 as an entry point to truly reproduce how this disaster happened. With such a heavy topic, the director turned out to be a real comedy with excellent results.

In fact, the director did not want to use documentary methods to truly restore history, but added a dramatic adaptation on the basis of history. "Big Short" does not focus on the victims of this financial crisis, but focuses the lens on several Wall Street prophets with insight into the overall situation and portrays the beneficiaries of this disaster. This angle can be said to be very novel.

The performance of this movie is even more novel, astounding, and show off your face. First of all, the film is very neurotic. It does not intend to tell a story seriously, but to interact with the audience. The director knows that you definitely don't understand what other experts say, so he specifically asks someone to explain it to you. Whether it is Margot Robbie, a famous American chef or a financial giant, they will drift away from the narrative to the camera and translate the scriptures into English for you on the spot. This setting is really cheating.

Sexy clown girl answering questions online

Although I heard their explanation, I still didn't understand it at all.

The role of Commander High in the film is also very strange. He is an important role and narrator in the film. In the process, there were constant surprises. I was holding this mentality. Although I didn't understand any line, I still watched it with interest.

The second is that the film editing, graphics and soundtrack seem to be crazy. The director understands that you are very tired after hearing so many obscure words, so you let all kinds of funny and nonsensical pictures come into your eyes. Talking about the many uncommon words on Wall Street makes people feel stupid, this is the funny picture below; when it comes to the prosperity and decline of the American banking industry, the material is even more eye-catching, especially when I saw the flash of Tommy's "High Aspirations" It's outdated and pleasantly surprised. The editing also seems to have beaten the blood, and set off the tough rhythm of the film in one hand. The soundtrack is superb, and heavy metal rock music has been used many times to form a huge contrast.

Lazy

The last is the narrative method. You would never have thought that a commercial war movie would have the black humor style like "Two Big Smokers", and the clever arrangement of multi-line narrative is very fascinating. The film can be divided into four camps. Except for the intersection of Commander High and Steve, the rest are irrelevant to each other and make a fortune. However, the four-line narrative combined with parallel cutting is more lively and interesting, almost bringing the commercial war movie to the extreme.

Let's try to simplify the complicated things in "Big Short" and briefly talk about what role everyone played in this financial crisis.

The first is Michael, played by Christian Bale, the soul of the film.

Michael once had a history of unbearable looking back. He lost his left eye for some reason when he was young. What you see now is a fake eyeball. This person is still very talented, but very neurotic, not good at communicating with others, and likes to stay in the office and endure the tremendous pressure brought by Wall Street life.

I have to say that Michael is the most visionary. He first discovered that the US housing market is extremely unstable, just like a big bubble, which may collapse at any time, and the collapse of the housing market will have disastrous consequences. The banking industry in the United States is becoming more and more developed. No one believes that a catastrophe is about to come. At this time, the Prophet Michael can make a lot of money from it.

So Michael began to short subprime loans in various banks, and bet several hundred million. This is like a gambling game, if there is no loss in the future, it is Michael who loses money. Every bank treats him as a fool, thinking that someone will come to give money, of course everyone is happy.

Michael's boss stopped doing it, shouting at what he thought was a fool to pay his debts. It turns out that people are the real geniuses.

But the financial crisis is about to come. Michael used tricks to swindle the hard-earned money of countless people. He still feels a little bit troubled. So he has repeatedly posted online to let them recognize the current situation and remind them that the financial crisis is coming, and they can sleep soundly. Up.

Bell is really acting like this, and he has portrayed such a ghost so well. Whether it is smirking at his subordinates when recruiting, or playing drums to release himself, he is worthy of being an actor. Bell can be called the master of methodist performance.

Below is Jared, played by Commander High, who is not only the weird narration of the film, but also the agent of Deutsche Bank.

Jared should be the most unfathomable character in the film. He is our tour guide on this journey, allowing us to see the heroes of Wall Street before the financial crisis. However, Jared himself also played the role of an intermediary, and it was himself who made a big profit in the end.

As an agent of Deutsche Bank, Jared accidentally heard the news that Michael was shorting multiple bonds, and his heart surged, thinking that this man had done a good job. Blessed to share, so Jared went to discuss cooperation matters with Mark, and wanted him to participate in this gambling game. He used a tower of building blocks to simulate a variety of bonds, showing that the consequences of drawing one are unimaginable. In the end, they persuaded the old stubbornness.

The mortgage market was still strong, and Mark invited Jared over to be scolded. However, Jared had no doubts at all, indicating that time will prove his action is right. So Jared recommended Mark to participate in the Economic Forum in Las Vegas and asked him to talk to other bosses, finally leading Mark to the right path.

In the end, the financial crisis came, Jared made a lot of money, and said without shame, "Do you think I am a good person? Wrong, the only thing I see is profit", shameless.

The high commander's calm performance, coupled with the cordial conversation with the audience from time to time, is very pleasant. When he yelled "I'm jacked to the tits" in the second half, the joyful tone broke my joy.

Then there was Steve Carell, who played Mark, a pure Wall Street person.

Mark was born in a Wall Street family and was born to be a business man. But recently, due to all kinds of messy housework, he has been unhappy, and he has to blast others off in a taxi. He led several young people in the company, and the business was fairly smooth.

Wall Street people have a common feature-high pressure, the film has no less swear words than ordinary R-rated films. The same is true for Mark. He walks on the bustling street and does not understand why people are always so leisurely. He calls his brother, and on the other side of the phone, his brother is standing on the rooftop...

At this time, Jared, played by Commander High, came and wanted to create some surprises for Mark's plain life. So he was told to follow Michael's plan. It seemed to make a lot of sense, and a pot of gold could be made, and Mark agreed.

Mark personally visited the investigation, investigated the high loan residential area, investigated the stripper who owns five houses, and verified Jared's statement. At first, the housing market rose instead of falling. All the people who worked with Mark came to trouble him, so the angry staff scolded Jared. Later, after attending the economic forum, Mark gradually understood. It turned out that this industry is not that simple, and the various unspoken business rules that he saw before him made him doubt life. He went to the speech, and this kind person reminded everyone of the possibility of losing control under the dark tide of the financial market at any time.

In the end, the financial crisis came, and Mark made a lot of money like Jared, but he was not excited at all. He thought that countless people might be displaced and homeless because of this, and he felt the guilt of being a businessman who tried to win.

Steve Carell completely entered the role. He is the most successful line of the movie. The more he understands, the more he grows. He is a flesh and blood businessman and a well-deserved winner.

Figure one
Figure II

Finally, there is a collaboration story between two young young people who have just arrived and a reclusive master from outside the world.

The two brothers in picture 1 are newbies who have just entered the financial circle, but after all, there should be a more successful man behind the successful man. The two of them have very good personal relationships with Brad Pitt in picture 2. He was once a prominent master on Wall Street, and because he was tired of the fraudulent financial circles, he disappeared and he has long since disappeared.

Once the two brothers were in the bank and wanted to discuss a business with others, but they broke up. At this time, they accidentally saw the leaflet about Michael shorting the subprime CDS, and suddenly felt shocked. The two men were talented and felt that this was a good opportunity to get the first pot of gold.

Lonely palms are hard to sing, even though there are two of them. Therefore, they decided to invite a world-class expert to come out and let the old seniority introduce them to promote this business. This is considered to have agreed to the requests of these two hairy boys, the veteran will go out, one can do the two, and the three of them can be said to be invincible.

Ben took them both and also went to Las Vegas. These two people have learned a lot here, and successfully completed this order. Others treat them like money-giving lunatics. In fact, everyone is drunk and I am alone. When they danced, Ben was very serious and warned them not to be so happy, because while they are making profits, most people will go bankrupt, which is not a happy thing.

In the end, their business is missing the last link, so Ben will negotiate their profit. Ben is indeed an expert, saying "You want to be rich, now you are rich", adding the last sum to their success.

When the financial crisis hit, these two brothers came to the bankrupt bank in person, it was like a ruin, they both thoughtful...

Brad Pitt's role is very thought-provoking-he used to be a mess on Wall Street, but he went home to grow crops because of the cruelty of the financial circle. The financial circle quantifies the number of people and regards the lives of countless people as a fraction of big data, which makes Ben completely unacceptable. Entering Wall Street, what is human nature? You have to forget it.

Calm

You don’t have to understand all the uncommon words in a long story. My description above is basically the plot of the film, and the purpose of "Big Short" is definitely not to make you understand these words, and then let you make a fortune. Just as war movies are all anti-war, commercial war movies may not necessarily promote commercial war.

When explaining certain terms, the film has a very good line: "Do you think these words are stupid? Yes, people on Wall Street want to pretend to be so profound that others cannot understand some of their industry words. But this After all, there are some benefits. They can get you a little further away from Wall Street. "Indeed, as long as we don't understand, we are not interested; if we can understand, then we will all be involved.

I have always felt that there is not much difference between business wars and wars. In contrast, wars are more brutal, but direct; business wars are more civilized, but not less destructive. Commercial warfare is a tool more suitable for us humans to kill each other, and it is the most shameless product born of human wisdom. In the intrigue, humanity is wiped out like a war, and the struggle of the upper-class people leads to the displacement of the lower-class citizens.

In any case, if you enjoy the audiovisual effects and atmosphere of "Big Short", just watch this movie as a disaster, and you won't find it boring. This is the greatest charm of "Big Short".

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Extended Reading

The Big Short quotes

  • Casey: What am I supposed to do? Write a piece called "We're all fucked"?

    Charlie Geller: Yes! That's a perfect title!

  • Vinnie Daniel: How are you fucking us?

    Jared Vennett: When you come for the payday, I'm gonna rip your eyes out. I'm gonna make a fortune. The good news is Vinnie, you're not going to care cause you're gonna make so much money. That's what I get out of it. Wanna know what you get out of it? You get the ice cream, the hot fudge, the banana and the nuts. Right now I get the sprinkles, and ya - if this goes thru, I get the cherry. But you get the sundae Vinny. You get the sundae.

    Vinnie Daniel: All right. I buy that. Thank you.