'You be ferocious, you be relentless, you be telephone fucking terrorists'
Wolf of Wall Street 8.9
IF the purpose of a film is purely to entertain the viewer, then few others i've ever seen do their job as well as wolfie.
It wastes no time getting started at a breakneck pace, and hardly let's up for 3 hours. It covers all sorts of subjects and emotions, it's funnier than most comedies but also with terrible moments; Teresa catching them in the limo, his last night with Naomi asking for divorce and the wire note are all devastating, and even worse when you know they're coming. I don't understand the stock market, but you don't need to, this film isnt about stocks, its about the people. It could, and probably does, take place in any business sales environment.
This is shown as an entirely cutthroat world.. interestingly i think the only totally innocent character is Teresa, who he starts to shed early on once they get to wall street, she's not cut out for it, or for him, it turns out.
Leo's performance is brilliant, he's self centred, egotistical, disrespectful, manipulative but somehow still so likeable. Jordan is a supremely confident and driven chancer with something to prove..'pond scum no more', 'good for you little man'. An utterly addictive personality to all things inc. work and success, he is like the rockstar offspring of Del Boy and Barry Lyndon. McConaughey won the Oscar for Dallas buyers club that year, but i think Leo should have had it, its just not a particularly oscar-ey performance. All supporting cast are great especially margot Robbie and Jonah Hill.
I don't love the infamous Mcconaughey scene in the restaurant (I wonder why would he spent this time with a rookie on his first day.. there must be loads of new people starting all the time, they don't all get lunch) but it is interesting and crucial for the start of Jordan's arc. I believe he learns he doesn't have to be a hard working genius to succeed.. its more about being tenacious and selfish.. also that there seems to be no repercussions of what they do. I love donny acting fucked up meeting Brad, the whole lemmon lambo scene, Leo's speeches to the sales floor, explaining EJ entertainment to mad max and Mrs Robinson playing at the end.
There are lots of Scorsese trademarks on show like the moving camera, reactive narration and soundtrack, freeze frames, and references to other films. Like some other scorsese classics it's a rise and fall story.. there are many parallels with Goodfellas, which is a better film. I dont think this will go down as a classic in quite the same way. Goodfellas is more artistic, a more extensive story and somehow more relatable.. although violent and deplorable, the world is more honourable. Gangsters are just more interesting than businessmen.
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