How did that guy's confession to illegally falsifying the document to foreclose on the guy's home do the guy any good?
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creatorof2002 — 10 years ago(October 12, 2015 01:58 PM)
Rick Carver printed that falsified document and told his underlings to plant it illegally. I would have liked an ending where he ends up in prison.
That guy was a real piece of work, he even was non chalant about flaunting a mistress while he was married and had daughters, some example as a parent he is setting? -
mikesilvers — 10 years ago(October 27, 2015 11:00 PM)
Off the topic but still about the ending (and sort of a spoiler) - when Carver says "thank you" to Garfield's character, was he being sarcastic? Was he showing off for the cops and hoping that they would see that he was "appreciative" of Garfield's effort for helping diffuse the situation? Or was he genuinely grateful because he knew that his business was filthy and deep down he wanted out? I'm not sure, I'm just asking for opinions.despite many of the criticisms I've seen in this board, many of which I agree with, I thought it was a really well-done film; great acting and generally really well written, put you in the place of all the people who got screwed by the banks and the lenders.
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helen_white — 10 years ago(November 30, 2015 04:48 PM)
My opinion may very well be wrong, but I couldn't pass your questions by.
I think he was quite sarcastic and wanted to make Andrew's character regret what he did and show this regret - so there was at least some moral compensation for him (Rick) in this situation (and showing off for the cops was - to save face, to act cool and not to show his anger etc. (like he's not a bad guy)).
It seems to me, Rick also felt kind of disappointed: maybe he thought he built a stronger man out of some softy one (Dennis) and was proud of himself, felt like he did something good to someone (while he often hears a different story from people) - and then this (failure, betrayal). And also all these financial losses and damage for his career, all this life he's used to
So in my opinion, only his unconsciousness 'could feel' some relief and satisfaction (and his body - but not his mind, and mostly he hates all this and thinks how to minimize the damage and to get his life back; I suppose he's not fed up enough yet with that violent lifestyle of his to embrace the 'punishment'). -
wrightinchicago — 10 years ago(February 20, 2016 06:34 PM)
About mid-way I was wondering by Carver would choose to work with a man, Nash, who was too emotional towards his house. He kept asking Carver to buy the house back and was willing to pay double the value. That would have sent red flags up to me.
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helen_white — 10 years ago(February 21, 2016 06:59 PM)
I think 'cause Rick, I guess, had this type of personality - a very insecure one - so he's always concerned if he's the one who controls a situation, - and he saw Nash as a person who'd always be weaker than Carver himself. Nash seemed (and was for quite a while) easy enough to manipulate.
And also Nash was pretty enthusiastic, and the boss could just work less and yet get a lot, grow bigger without much effort. -
cetaylor3 — 10 years ago(February 22, 2016 07:18 PM)
Most of all, I felt the ending was supposed to leave some ambiguity as to what the outcome would be.
But, on balance, it seemed most plausible to hear Carver's "thank you" as not so much sarcastic as his own CYA, playing a role - which is all he knows how to do anymore - in this case playing innocent and thanking Nash for 'coming clean' so as to save lives but as if it was Nash owning up to his own sin - and sending at the same time a coded message to Nash himself that meant "thanks for saying you did it cuz now i'm gonna run with that to save my own neck." When Nash looks back from the cop car to the lawn, Carver is lighting up a cigarette, no one is interrogating him much less cuffing him for arrest. I read into that ambiguity that, given everything the film has exposed in so many ways, as Carver himself said, it's a system "of the winners, by the winners and for the winners" - and having become a 'winner' means he has lots of chits to cash in - to buy influence - to escape consequences And that only Nash, who let himself makes a Faustian bargain (that i was personally beseeching him not to make, as I imagine the film positioned most viewers to do), will pay the price for his losing his soul for dough. The message imho was: No matter how screwed you were, how wrong and unjust your loss was, the sun doesn't shine on those who resolve to rationalize any means to an end in the effort to regain what they lost.
I agree with you about the power of the film - acting and writing and directing - Michael Shannon gave such an amazing portrayal in the terrific and also ambiguous film Take Shelter (see it if you haven't), playing a schizophrenic so believably, that to see him now go so amoral and villainous opportunist in this film has cemented him in the upper ranks of acting chops for me. Both of the leads made their characters, sadly in different ways, utterly believable. -
SutterKeely87 — 10 years ago(January 17, 2016 04:13 PM)
I did like this movie, and of course thought the acting was phenomanal, but it's this last scene, actually the last act that holds the movie from greatness. A very good movie, but could have been great
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cetaylor3 — 10 years ago(February 22, 2016 07:32 PM)
My understanding was different. The paper that was forged was a document that had to have been filed two years prior giving notice to the homeowner but had never been filed. I understood one of them to say that the missing document was fatal to the case for foreclosure, which is why Carver was willing to risk forgery - it was NOT an inconsequential document, it was a document without which the homeowner had made his case that the required procedures for foreclosure had not been followed and therefore he could not be foreclosed on.
And I suspect since no one wound up injured, given that Nash's confession proves that fraud had been perpetrated on the homeowner (Greene?), he would be given a relatively light judgment, perhaps based on temporary insanity given the fraud and betrayal of the system.
What I kept waiting for was Nash and Greene to pass eye to eye on the lawn and what that look would be. -
cetaylor3 — 10 years ago(February 22, 2016 07:43 PM)
p.s. Where I would agree that the confession was too little too late - well at least too late - was whether it could save Nash's soul in the eyes of his son and mother. Someone expressed disbelief that the son would reject the nouveau riche home but it was believable to me given that he'd learned his dad had sold his soul for it - and dad had also done a bait and switch after convincing him he was getting his old home back - the son had grown wary by then too and was slow to believe he could actually move back into his old house with friends across the street but he then had 'bought it' as real and allowed himself to reinvest in that joy, only to have his dad take it away and substitute it with something else, no matter how "cool" a place, it wasn't home to him. And then to discover that their recovery was cuz dad had gone collaborator with the devil who'd taken their home away? It was too much. And Nash's confession is probably too late for that "loss of innocence" for his son. Dad becoming his hero again? Highly unlikely.
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amusmeci — 10 years ago(March 14, 2016 10:59 PM)
I don't know, but after all the frustration, empathy ang general the mov inflicted on us I found that open ending as a bit of a letdown. Ser, it would be more satisfactory for the viewer the comeuppance falling on Carver explicitly.