With an election season in full swing, and the economy still on uneven footing, perhaps there is no better time for "Arbitrage," the feature film debut of Nicholas Jarecki (the brother of Eugene and Andrew Jarecki). And pulling together a cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Tim Roth, Laetitia Casta, Nate Parker and Chris Eigeman, all led by what's regarded by many to be the best performance in years by Richard Gere, this should make an impression this fall.
A taut and alluring suspense thriller about love, loyalty, and high finance, "Arbitrage" follows successful hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller (Gere) on the eve of his 60th birthday. However, behind the facade, Miller is in trouble, desperately trying to complete the sale of his trading empire to a major bank before the depths of his fraud are revealed. Struggling to conceal his duplicity from loyal wife Ellen (Sarandon) and brilliant daughter and heir-apparent Brooke (Marling), Miller's also balancing an affair with French art-dealer Julie Cote (Casta). Just as he's about to unload his troubled empire, an unexpected bloody error forces him to juggle family, business, and crime with the aid of Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), a face from Miller's past. One wrong turn ignites the suspicions of NYPD Detective Michael Bryer (Roth), who will stop at nothing in his pursuits. Running on borrowed time, Miller is forced to confront the limits of even his own moral duplicity. Will he make it out before the bubble bursts?
The thriller earned strong notices at Sundance earlier this year with our own review saying: "The stakes proceed to mount in a classically unraveling sense, almost worthy of an old-school noir, but the added timeliness of likeminded deceit only gives the audience cause to root for the man’s undoing, if only as a proxy for off-screen justice." Roadside Attractions will release "Arbitrage" in theaters on September 14th. Check out the poster and trailer for the film below.
