Kevin Spacey (Sam Rogers) Head of Sales and Jeremy Irons (John Tuld) the CEO of an investment bank not unlike Lehman Brothers, team up in this dramatic thriller that will keep you on a 36-hour roller coaster ride through the world of high stakes finance. Normally this might be rather dull but it is funny, compelling and smart. ‘Margin Call’ is inspired by a true story that happened during the 2008 financial crisis in NYC.

An entry-level analyst (Zachary Quinto) discovers information that he interprets immediately as being potentially extremely detrimental to the firm. He gets his hands on this information during an unusual and extensive layoff of employees at the firm. One of the employees who has been fired is Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), who’s specialty is high-risk management. He passes his USB key to Peter on his way out the door. When Peter brings this information forward to the decision makers how do they react? Moral decisions are about to be made and it turns out have been made that will impact the firm and the financial stability of the markets. They will also dramatically impact the future of the people around the table. Do these men and women have the moral courage to take the plunge? What is making the right decision about for each of them? Can they live with the consequences?

The employees who are key to solving this situation stay at the firm all night to try and come to grips with how it must be dealt with and why.

This is writer/director J.C. Chandor’s first feature and he has admirably captured the nerve wracking, high stakes world of financial trading and the men and women who inhabit it. We had a hint of the type of characters and the moral dilemmas faced by traders in “Wall Street”. ‘Margin Call’ goes one step farther and deals with the intimate lives of the people who participate in the kind of decisions that created the financial meltdown of 2008. We get a fascinating and intensely personal glimpse of who these players are from the CEO’s to the entry clerks and the moral codes they are guided by.

The all-star cast includes Paul Bettany (Will Emerson), Zachary Quinto (Peter Sullivan/Producer), Penn Badgley (Seth Bregman), Demi Moore (Sarah Robertson), and Mary McDonnell (Mary Rogers). The characters are riveting. Margin Call was nominated for a Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. The movie was shot in NYC in the One Penn Plaza on the 42nd Floor in a space recently vacated by a trading frim.