Arbitrage

ARBITRAGE (15)

D: Nicholas Jarecki

Lions Gate/Green Room/Treehouse (Laura Bickford, Kevin Turen, Justin Nappi, Robert Salerno & Mohammed Alturki)

USA 🇺🇸 2012

107 mins

Drama/Thriller

W: Nicholas Jarecki

DP: Yorick LeSaux

Ed: Douglas Crise

Mus: Cliff Martinez

Richard Gere (Robert Miller), Susan Sarandon (Ellen Miller), Tim Roth (Det. Bryer), Brit Marling (Brooke Miller), Laetitia Casta (Julie Cote), Nate Parker (Jimmy Grant)

When this movie was first released in 2012, there was much talk of veteran actor Richard Gere receiving his first Oscar nomination. He eventually lost out, but you'd not have sniffed at him being nominated for this.

During the opening moments, the film feels as though you've seen it all before, he plays a selfish businessman being fraudulent with his company accounts in order to push a merger through, while philandering with his mistress behind his wife and family's back.

The movie twists into thriller territory on the half hour mark, when Gere is in a car accident which kills the woman he's having an affair with, before fleeing the incident in order to escape being prosecuted with the lucrative business deal on the horizon.

The rest of the film concentrates on high-priced lawyers keeping Gere's arse out of jail while he has to keep his daughter (Britt Marling) sweet after she discovers discrepancies in the company accounts.

The final scene will either infuriate or captivate you, depending on how you feel about ambiguity.

Despite all the pre-Oscar talk being about Gere's performance, the real revelation here is Britt Marling. She first caught my eye in the 2011 indie sci-fi/drama Another Earth, and she delivers just as good a performance in Arbitrage. I'm keeping an eye out, because I'm expecting her to be a big star in a few years if she keeps up this good work.

7/10

Did You Know:

Richard Gere replaced Al Pacino in the lead role.

Award Wins & Nominations:

MILSTEAD MOVIE AWARDS:

Wins: none

Nominations: 3 (Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Screenplay - Original)

OSCARS:

Wins: none

Nominations: none

BAFTAS

Wins: none

Nominations: none

OTHER WINS:

African American Film Critics (Best Supporting Actor); National Board of Review (Top 10 Independent Films of the Year)