The Wolf of Wall Street
It took me a shamefully long amount of time to finally get to Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf of Wall Street” in theatres. Shameful for me, at least: Scorsese has risen through the ranks of my favorite filmmakers over the past decade, and his last film, the 3D Oscar-winner “Hugo,” is in my top 3 favorite films I’ve ever seen. But life has made it difficult for me to really keep up with movies thus far in 2014, and unfortunately, “Wolf” has been one of the casualties.
Waiting so long to see a movie like this is dangerous, because you hear all the noise about it before seeing it yourself. You run the risk of that noise clouding your judgement, and affecting your ability to look at the movie objectively. It can raise expectations to impossible levels, or lower them in ways that will do the film an injustice. And when you’re dealing with a filmmaker like Scorsese, that can be extremely problematic.
All that being said, “Wolf of Wall Street” dug into me like a tick, and didn’t let go for three outrageous, wickedly funny hours. It gives us a “take no prisoners” look at Wall Street that shows the excess that has presided over the industry since Gordon Gecko made “Greed is good.” into a mantra to live by in the ’80s. The biggest reason it doesn’t get a “perfect” rating out of me is because, even though Thelma Schoonmaker continues to be a master of editing choices that keep a film moving, three hours is an awfully long time to maintain such a fevered pitch, and without some moments of real groundedness (and “Wolf” has very few), the film becomes a numbing experience, and it’s hard to really feel anything for any of the characters. That being said, though, Scorsese and his collaborators, starting with screenwriter Terrence Winter, know how to tell this story to get it to sink in, and because of that, we must go to the film’s most obvious kindred spirit in Scorsese’s filmography…”GoodFellas.”
The scenes that everyone remembers in Scorsese’s 1990 masterpiece are the ones that show Henry Hill (played note-perfect by Ray Liotta) at his peak moment of strength in the world of organized crime, and his weakest moment. The peak is that effortless tracking shot where Hill and his future wife, Karen, enter the Copacabana through the kitchen, and get a table put right in front, just for them. Meanwhile, his weakest moment is during another virtuoso sequence, where Hill, strung out on drugs, has to juggle his drugs, his family, and his responsibilities to the criminal world in one, dizzying day that culminates in his arrest. One of the reasons “GoodFellas” works so well is because while it appears to be a tacit endorsement of the lifestyle it presents, it’s actually revealing the ugly reality that crime doesn’t pay, although it doesn’t judge it’s subjects, and simply presents them as they are, which is why people have always gotten tripped up by the magic act Scorsese pulled off. The same is true in “Wolf of Wall Street,” as Scorsese takes us deep inside the insane world of Jordan Belfort, a butcher’s son who becomes a major player on Wall Street through the sales of obscene amounts of “penny stocks” and IPO manipulation and any other type of financial shenanigans the financial crisis of 2008 has shined a light on. Having Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in arguably his finest performance not just with Scorsese, but to date) tell his own story through voiceover and, occasionally, talking to the camera, just as Hill did in “GoodFellas,” should tip people off that Scorsese is employing the same storytelling tricks he did in “GoodFellas”– showing us the reality behind the scenes, without judgement, and allowing us to realize for ourselves that for all it’s power, this life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sadly, reality hasn’t gotten the message yet, as is painfully obvious when you think that people like Belfort get slaps on the wrist for their twisted misdeeds. The ultimate question Scorsese is pondering, though, is whether all the power a Belfort or Henry Hill gains is worth the price of one’s soul, and that’s what interests Marty about these type of men.
There’s a lot to talk about with this film, and a lot of different angles in which to examine the film, but I want to talk about the moments that, to me, show Belfort at his strongest, and his weakest. The weakest moment, of course, is the film’s now-famous “Quaaludes” sequence, with Belfort and his #2, Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill, continuing to impress while working with major filmmakers), taking a few too many of the drug, leading to a sequence of absurd physical comedy too surreal it must be seen to be believed because trust me, you can’t just write about it, and expect to get the point across. Belfort’s strongest moment, meanwhile, I think is while he is aboard his 150-foot yacht, and taking a meeting with FBI Agent Patrick Denham, played perfectly by Kyle Chandler. This is an acting sparring match for the ages in Scorsese cinema, much like the iconic scene in “GoodFellas” where Joe Pesci’s character backs Hill into a corner for calling him a “funny guy.” Here, Belfort and Denham are clearly sizing each other up with really saying it; Belfort is trying to see how far he can push the “squeaky clean” Denham, while Denham is trying to get an overt attempt at bribery out of Jordan. By the time the scene ends, in a way that should not surprise anyone, both characters understand one another, and know this won’t be their last meeting with one another, and it’s impossible to not be entertained by what we just saw.
The film is loaded with a lot of great back-and-forth, starting with a great lunch scene between Belfort and a fellow stock seller played by Matthew McConaughey, and continuing from there with equally riveting scenes with DiCaprio and Spike Jonze (as a penny stock broker); Hill; Rob Reiner (as Belfort’s father); Jean Dujardin (as a Swiss banker); and especially Margot Robbie as Belfort’s sexy wife, Naomi. Robbie is a force of nature, on par with Sharon Stone’s Oscar-nominated work in Scorsese’s 1995 crime epic, and holds her own with DiCaprio masterfully, using her sexuality as a weapon to hold him in check when need be. Still, the film belongs to Leo, and he delivers a no-holds-barred performance of wicked laughs and devious scheming that adds an entirely new layer to his on-screen persona. Hopefully, he and Scorsese have more diabolical fun in them in the future.
