Greed is a surprisingly dark and bitter satire on our capitalist society and the manipulative power of those who choose to ride on the crest of its wave. It's not a comedy, but it is funny; it's not a drama, but has elements of pathos and tragedy; but it is highly entertaining and hugley watchable.
Steve Coogan plays Richard McCreadie, a ruthless and unscrupulous mogul of a fashion / retail empire, whose business ethics have now been brought under the judging of the Select Committee in a public enquiry and he finds his dirty laundry being hung out to dry. In order to divert tactics he arranges that he should celebrate his 60th birthday in true billionaire style on the island of Mykonos in Greece with a (irony at the ready) Roman toga party with celebrity guests and A-lister live music.
Directed by Michael Winterbottom, [a director who has worked with Coogan before and one who loves to expeeriment and allow improvisation and creativity among the cast], the film takes a couple of unusual approaches to the narrative. First, the film is non-linear with only the Birthday party itself being "the present" and making up only a very small percentage of the film. The rest is a series of non-linear flashbacks which piece by piece allow us to understand the whys and wherefores of the man and the situation he finds himself in much clearer. Second is the genius inclusion of an official biographer on hand, [David Mitchell playing the role of Nick]. This is a twofold masterstroke. On the one hand we now have two versions of events, as seen throguh the eyes of McCreadie and also now through the eyes of Nick - who acts as a kind of 'Everyman' character or perhaps even a Greek Chorus (?). But more importantly it gives the film a licence to mess with the chronology of the film as it filmed in documentary style.
The film not only exposes the rag trade - and the tragic working conditions of those at the bottom end of the scale, in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka for example, where working conditions and wages are no more than inhuman and slave wages; but it also exposes another human crisis the world is facing currently; that of migrant refugees, as a group of Syrian boat people are show tto be living on the beach next to where the party is taking place. It is the Westerners' attitudes towards these people which are shocking showing little understanding or consideratioon for them, and how McCreadie even uses and manipulates them to do his bidding.
All the cast are superb. Seasoned performers such as Asa Butterfield, Sophie Cookson, Jamie Blackley, and Shanina Shaik put in uniformly creditable and grounded performances, with a few surprise additions from comedians / actors who are not primarily known for their screen acting roles such as Asim Chaudry (Frank: the lion-handler), Tim Key (Sam; the contractor for the building of a wooden ampitheatre), and the uncreditted performances of Miles Jupp (head of Select Committee) and Stephen Fry (as himself!). It is David Mitchell's unprepossessing and deliberately underplayed and flawed Nick which grounds the whole film and exposes the ridiculousness of McCreadie's excess with both sympathy and understanding without any moral judgement. However, the most difficult role in the film has to be that of McCreadie's current PR lady, Amanda, played with real empathy and realism by Dinita Gohil. A truly grounded performance which adds greatly to the success of the film as a whole.
There are a couple of irritating bugbears with this film however. The CGI creation of the lion was not realistic enough. It was obviously not a real lion in several scenes it appeared in, most annoyingly in the one scene it really needed to appear real... the denouement and comeuppance of McCreadie. And my second irritation was with the background music. It did at times jar with the senses, seemingly music which didn't wholly suit the mood, or was too loud and overpowering, taking our minds from the action.
If you are looking for a dark and black-humoured pseudo-comedy of epic Greek tragedian proportion, which has an ethical and moral standpoint, then this is your film. Brilliant acting combined with imaginative directing make for compelling viewing.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 11/2/20
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