We Are Movie Geeks

EQUITY is a film about Wall Street but not the usual kind. For one thing, it is about women working on Wall Street. The film is also not about the economic meltdown or other famous scandal, but instead is just about an investment banker, Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn), who has risen to the top, playing the investment game with the big boys, in what is predominately a man’s business world. The title refers more to the kind of equity one means when you say “pay equity.”

This is a remarkable film for what it is not – the usual financial drama with men in the lead roles. Not only is the main character a woman but all the major characters are women. In this financial drama, all the really central roles filled by women, and men are in the supporting and romantic interest parts, the movie roles to which women are too often consigned. And these are smart, ambitious women, in a tough competitive business.

There is just something inherently cool about that. To boost that coolness, the film is also directed by a woman, Meera Menon, and written by a trio of women, Amy Fox, Sarah Megan Thomas, and Alysia Reiner. There are plenty of women among the producers and the crew but even better, women on financed the film, real “Wall Street women,” as a way to bring their real work and lives to the screen.

That is a lot of authenticity and all that “woman power” revvs up anticipation for the film itself. The story develops a kind of psychological/political thriller (financial thriller?) edge, with the women navigating the power games of the financial world, while dealing with the particular challenges of being a woman (and therefore an outsider) in a male-dominated business.

The story focuses on ambitious investment banker Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn), who is trying to orchestrate a successful IPO for a tech company called Cachet. Although Naomi is experienced and very good at her job, having successfully launched IPOs for many Silicon Valley companies, her last IPO did not do as well as hoped. Although the poor opening happened after she left the project, it left a false impression she had somehow mishandled it. In an industry where you are only as good as your last job, Naomi now needs a hit with her next launch to win promotion in her firm this year.

Assisting Naomi is her young assistant Erin Manning (Sarah Megan Thomas, one of the script’s co-writers), who is also hungry to advance. Naomi’s job brings in big bucks but fitting a personal life into this hectic life is difficult. Naomi puts her career first and so is uneasy about romantic involvements. Still, she has managed to connect with Michael Connor (James Purefoy), who works in a different department of her firm, handling hedge funds.

At an alumni mentoring event sponsored by her alma mater, Naomi runs into a former college classmate, Samantha Ryan (co-writer Alysia Reiner), an attorney trying to make her name for herself  in the Department of Justice. The old friends reminisce and chat about their salary gap, government work versus the private sector. Samantha chats about her same-sex partner and their two children and how she has recently switched from drug investigations to white-collar crime on Wall Street. Unknown to Naomi, Samantha is investigating a hedge fund company that has contact with Michael.

While Naomi scrupulously avoids “talking shop” with Michael, to the reduce the risk to insider trading, ambition can make seeing the line between right and wrong more difficult. Plus, this is Wall Street where high ethical standards can be in short supply.

As the date for the IPO approaches, things get complicated. One complication is the tech company’s egotistical, hoodie-wearing founder, Ed (Samuel Roukin), who is proving difficult to control. But Naomi is a pro, and brings serious skills to the task.

With real Wall Street types behind the film, it strives to paint a real-world picture of women working on Wall Street, which is to its credit. The bones are there for a taut thriller but director Menon takes a decidedly low-key tone. That might be more realistic but that commitment to realism may impede the film’s success as drama. Although life is sometimes stranger than fiction, at other times it is duller. The cat-and-mouse game at the center of this film, its missteps and betrayals are played a bit more low key than a thriller demands for dramatic impact. Everything is about nuance – the fine line and that shady area between ethics and wrongdoing, the lies of omission, betrayals just short of outright, the choice of ambition over loyalty, and of course, the disconnect between the good and the rewarded. Even the sets and costumes are restrained, muted tones and pared-down modern design.

Anna Gunn is superb, painting Naomi as a shrewd character who is long experienced in playing the game but leery of the particular traps women face in the corporate world. Having a personal life is especially complicated for a woman at the top of the corporate ladder, and all the female characters are cautious about bringing the personal into the office. Both Samantha and Erin have more of a home life than Naomi – Samantha has a same-sex partner and two kids, and Erin is married – but they both work to keep their private lives separate from their work lives, for strategic reasons if nothing else.

One of the things that is surprising in this film is how often these women turn the tables on men who would rather treat them as sex objects. It is about using the tools at hand, without crossing boundaries. When the situation calls for it, none of them hesitate to turn on some feminine charm, if that softens men’s attitudes towards them or gets the information they need. These are smart women, skilled at their work, but sometimes exploiting men’s attraction to them does the job, while avoiding crossing a line.

EQUITY is not a perfect film, but it does use its story to explore a number of issues facing women in this competitive industry. We never really get inside these characters’ heads, although we come closest with Naomi, and the pace of the film is so restrained that it never builds the kind of dramatic tension one would like. Still, this is such a rare bird, a film that turns the tables on some many movie conventions, that it is still worthy of recognition just for the attempt, if nothing more.

RATING: 3 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

EQUITY opens Friday, August 26th at the Plaza Frontenac