Steven Soderbergh takes on the Panama Papers, millions of documents leaked in 2015 showing how the wealthy elite of the world hid money in offshore accounts, by employing the same kind of multi-story approach and starry ensemble as in films like Traffic (2000) and Contagion (2011). Guided by Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas in dapper suits, addressing us in the audience, as the lawyers who ran the firm at the center of the scandal. The heart of the film is provided by Meryl Streep as a widow cheated out of insurance money. Creative, playful… but also a bit muddled.
2019-U.S. 95 min. Color. Part Widescreen. Directed, photographed and edited by Steven Soderbergh. Screenplay: Scott Z. Burns. Book: Jake Bernstein (”Secrecy World”). Cast: Meryl Streep (Ellen Martin/Elena), Gary Oldman (Jürgen Mossack), Antonio Banderas (Ramón Fonseca), Sharon Stone, David Schwimmer, Matthias Schoenaerts… Jeffrey Wright, Will Forte, James Cromwell, Robert Patrick.
