It really did sneak up on me how much The Wolf of Wall Street matters. You can hear the Wall St. types saying, "Yeah, that was the '80s..." except after reading Matt Taibbi's The Divide this summer, how many Wall St. executives have gone to jail? How many have denied what was depicted in Martin Scorsese's film? Goldman & Sachs and other heavies say, "Well, that was penny stocks salespeople." And it's part of America, a part that still isn't reined in, and the deeper secret of who really knows what goes on in those isolated communities that are, in the words of Spike Jonze's character, "Sort of" regulated. We still don't really know. There are rules in place for trading, and Michael Lewis's Flash Boys showed how the dark pools are created and trade heavily beyond the touch of the consumer. One starts to piece together what the pie might look like, and just what kind of isolated reality Wall St. is.
The movie is volumes better the second time. The editing is seamless, especially with voiceovers during transitions. DiCaprio's performance is nuanced and fine tuned. We sense his inner struggles. This movie matters more all the time, to ages ranging from teens to those approaching a century. The movie's a snapshot, yet so applies. And did I mention it's commentary on men? The east coast? Midlife crises? When rules are absent?
The movie is volumes better the second time. The editing is seamless, especially with voiceovers during transitions. DiCaprio's performance is nuanced and fine tuned. We sense his inner struggles. This movie matters more all the time, to ages ranging from teens to those approaching a century. The movie's a snapshot, yet so applies. And did I mention it's commentary on men? The east coast? Midlife crises? When rules are absent?
