Plot
Ellen Martin and her husband Joe are on a pleasure boat ride, in New York when it capsises and sinks. 21 people drown, including Joe, and one of their friends. When Ellen attempts to get compensation from the company she is met with roadblock after roadblock due to insurance companies, trust companies, shell companies and more.
Her investigations grow, and it might just lead her to Mossack-Fonseca, a large law firm that is under investigations from the IRS.
Direction
Steven Soderbergh directs, and like usual gives an okay performance behind he camera. I didn’t care for the “shaky” camera effect in the office sequences, it was quite nauseating.
Unfortunately it feels more ‘passion project’ that social satire. It almost has the feeling that you need an advanced degree in economics to really understand what is going on.
Cast
An all star cast that has bigger names than you can imagine in a ‘little’ film like this.
Meryl Streep plays Ellen, who gives a brilliant performance (when doesn’t she?) of the woman who has lost her husband and wants both answers and some restitution. She also plays Elena, the secretary of Mossack-Fonseca.
Antonio Banderas plays Ramon Fonseca, and Gary Oldman plays Jugen Mossack – who play both within the narrative of the film – but also provide constant ‘on screen narration’ to explain the goings on – and how these companies are formed, managed etc.
There is a who’s who of celebrities within the film, including (but not limited to) – Sharon Stone as Hannah (a feisty real estate agent), David Schwimmer as Matthew (the riverboat company owner who discovers he bought the wrong insurance), Robert Patrick (as the river boat captain who was ‘driving’ during the sinking), Jeffrey Wright as Boncamper the trust manager…
Breakdown
This is an oddity of a film, which definitely has a ‘passion project’ feel from director Soderbergh. It doesn’t have some of his style. I genuinely like his snappy cuts, but here it feels like it is more like a live action picture book (with many ‘chapters’ within) as well as some vignettes thrown in as welll.
The film is based on a true story, and some of the characters we spend time with, such as Gary Oldman’s German Jurgan Mossack (who only Gary Oldman could pull of his German accent), and Antonio Banderas’ Ramon Fonseca – are real life people. They were the top players who were brought down in the Panama Papers scandal (something I did not know existed).
They act both as narrators of the film (which helps, as there are so many different types of diatribe that you feel like you need an advanced degree in mathematic and accounting to really understand what the hell these characters are on about).
As narrators, they break the fourth wall constantly, often even discussing the real life stars of the film, or those who work on it (Director Soderbergh brings himself up at one point, and Streep seemingly plays ‘herself’ in a closing fourth wall monologue). They also become players in the story, as lead character Ellen delves deeper into the myster of who is responsible for her husbands death.
The primary narrative of Ellen’s pursuit of the truth in who is responsible for Joe’s death, and the company that is the one that has to pay the settlement (which isn’t as high – which leads to her investigation) is interesting, but because some external narratives are thrown in (like Nonso Anozie’s Charles arc – where he is having an affair with his daughters best friend) and the Maywood arc (although this is a ‘play’ on the real life murder of a British businessman Neil Heywood). I just wanted to get back to Ellen’s story – and think these were included to pad the runtime.
There is some graphic imagery in the Maywood narrative too, where we are witness to a very realistic looking autopsy (eyes!!!).
The all star cast is just that, and the names keep getting bigger the longer the film goes on.
All the cast bring their A game (even if some of them such as Oldman and Wright have to put on silly accents). Meryl Streep of course is the MVP, playing both Ellen and Elena (get it?) the secretary who works at Mossack Fonseca (who might have been the whistleblower?)
Overall
I really quite liked this one, the narrative was interesting with Streep’s Ellen (I just wanted more of her story – and less of the ‘cutaways’ that go on for too long).
It does feel a little ‘smart’ at time, and you really need to have a solid understanding of the American tax system to truly appreciate it.
Great performances help too.
3.5/5
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