Primarily money… but also mostly drugs.
Adapted by Boardwalk Empire showrunner Terence Winter from
two memoirs by disgraced stockbroker Jordan Belfort, WOLF chronicles Belfort’s
(Leonardo DiCaprio) meteoric rise and subsequent meteoric plummet from New York’s
Wall Street, where he used small potato penny stocks and a motley crew of petty
criminals to cheat his way to the top.
Beginning with Belfort’s first snort of cocaine, courtesy of
veteran broker Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughy) (whose other stock trading
advice includes chronic masturbation and the liberal application of vodka martinis),
the film is also a testament to Belfort’s self-admitted drug addiction, and to
the hedonistic alchemy that occurs when a bottomless wallet meets an infinite
pharmacy.
And who better to portray the dashing, voracious Belfort
than regular Scorsese collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio? Daily skirmishes with
bombshell wife Naomi (Australian-born Margot Robbie), soapboxing motivational speeches
on the trading floor, caustic banter with FBI agent Patrick Denham (Kyle
Chandler): these are all scenes to which we know Leo is perfectly suited. And he doesn’t
disappoint.
Where he downright excels, though, is during innumerable bits
of gonzo physical comedy. Supported by Jonah Hill, who plays Belfort’s WASPish,
dumpy business partner, DiCaprio
writhes, punches and tumbles his way through a cavalcade of Quaalude binges, coke
highs and good ol’ fashioned alcoholic benders,
stopping for just long enough to molest a stewardess or huck a Velcro-swaddled
dwarf at an oversized target.
DiCaprio’s most active off-screen accomplice in WOLF’s
dazzling showcase of Libertine shenanigans is Scorsese himself, who employs
many of his usual techniques – voiceover, non-linear chronology, innumerable music cues and an oft-moving camera – to exaggerated
effect, giving the film a gloriously loopy, carnivalesque feel. Likewise, he knows exactly when to slow
things down for a character beat, when to momentarily halt a caper with a nugget
of dramatic resonance. The whole piece is a thrilling tonal balancing act that only
stumbles in the necessarily serious final half hour (the first time I felt even
remotely conscious of the film’s sturdy runtime).
It seems impossible not to compare WOLF to both GOODFELLAS
and CASINO as all three are epically lengthy ensemble cast films dissecting the
experiences of organized men strong-arming their way through the backdoor of
the American dream. Understandably inferior to GOODFELLAS and better than
CASINO (which I still think is totally underrated, but whatever), WOLF is equally
striking in its differences.
In Scorsese’s mob pictures, the mafia is an exclusive group
that has an explicit set of values dictating the way it treats its members, its
allies and its enemies. Sons and daughters are born into membership, and a fierce
loyalty to its kith and kin is a foregone conclusion. Conversely, THE WOLF OF
WALL STREET portrays the stock market as a world populated through the
democratization of greed, with Belfort’s firm acting like a demented Ellis
Island for everyday strivers desperate to forge new lives through sheer force
of greed – the tired, the hungry, the amoral. Balfort’s universe doesn’t value
birthrights - only the wanton money-hunger of the individual. Loyalty is the
ultimate weakness.
Really, it’s an age-old indictment of not just American
culture, but humanity as a whole. In a more self-serious movie, it might feel pedantic.
The brilliance of THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is that it knows we know greed. And
it knows we’ve already seen every avaricious Wall Street cliché in films like BOILER ROOM and, well, WALL STREET. But while other movies make a maudlin plea for societal introspection by dwelling on how
the stock market can prey on the worst and most pathetic aspects of human
nature, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is content to resolve that nature is just that:
natural. And sometimes what comes natural is so ruthless and ugly, all you can do is sit back and laugh. (3 ½ out of 4 stars)
Great review, fabulous film. DeCaprio and Scorsese and ensemble: Kudos!
ReplyDeleteScorsese's THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is very much the new millenium's zeitgeist movie for me. This is rich, interesting filmmaking at every level. It shouldn’t be judged for its more repellent moments - and there ARE a lot of them - but for its breakdown of old mores that are still very much with us. The emotional nastiness of its satire very much has a point. The political satire in It's pretty jejune in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteMartin Scorsese is back at his best with this rollicking update on the gangsters of New York, the mean streets now filled with stockbrokers and share dealers, driven characters in search of the good life the easy way.
ReplyDelete