There is no gender equity in “Equity.”
The workaholic investment banker played by Anna Gunn is deeply invested in her job. But the odds are stacked against her like the Jenga tower on the desk of her male boss. She is judged by what she wears and whether she smiles.
Her albatross is a bungled account that finds her passed over and pissed off. And when things really go sideways, her story spreads its tentacles like the diagram of a scandal.
There is the suave boyfriend suspected of illegal trading; the smarmy new tech client whose IPO she is managing; the up and coming assistant, torn between her life and her job, to whom she is mentor and competitor; and an old friend who is now working for a federal agency that oversees financial transactions she conducts.
“Equity” is in the tradition of “Boiler Room” and “Wall Street” but is more closely a female centric version of “Billions,” the Showtime series about a corrupt hedge fund manager and the US Attorney obsessed with him.
The story is condensed but nuanced. Gunn is the only woman in a crowd of blue suits, and gender and power issues ripple through each scene, in a screenplay by Sarah Megan Thomas, who plays her assistant cowritten with playwright Amy Fox, and directed by Meera Menon.
The cooly efficient Gunn, of “Breaking Bad,” is a powerful presence whose insistent manner is blamed for the bungled account. But her real crime, as with “Ghostbusters,” is one of gender.
Equity *** Three Stars
With Anna Gunn, James Purefroy, Sarahg Megan Thomas, Alysa Reiner, Craig Bierko, Margaret Colin, Nick Gehlfuss, Carrie Preston, Lee Tergesen. Produced by written by Sarah Megan Thomas, Amy Fox. Directed by Meera Menon. Rated R; language. Approximate running time: 100 minutes.
Tags: Anna Gunn, Billions, Breaking Bad, Equity, Gender Posted by