Date: Feb. 2, 2012
Contact: Carol Connelly, Director, Media & Communication Services, ext. 5267, cconnelly@pnc.edu

PNC, Library to Host “Margin Call” Film Screenings

WESTVILLE – Public showings of the film "Margin Call” will be offered through a collaboration of the Purdue University North Central Odyssey 2011- 2012 Arts and Cultural Events Series and the Michigan City Public Library. The showings are free and open to the public.

It will be shown Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. at the Michigan City Public Library, 100 E. Fourth St., Michigan City and Thursday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. in the PNC Library-Student-Faculty Building Assembly Hall, Room 02. The film is rated R.

"Margin Call” takes place at an unidentified investment firm where 80 percent of the workforce has been laid off. One of those workers, played by Stanley Tucci, quietly gives a co-worker a USB drive and warns him to “be careful.” That co-worker soon finds he's been given some unsettling information that the firm and the market are on the edge of disaster. Soon word spreads through the firm and emergency meetings are called. Ultimately, it is up to the CEO, played by Jeremy Irons to make the “margin call” on whether or not to start moving worthless holdings before it becomes known on the outside that they are worthless.

Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars. He noted that he saw the message of the film as “its characters are concerned only by the welfare of their corporations. There is no larger sense of the public good. Corporations are amoral and exist to survive and succeed, at whatever human cost. This is what the Occupy Wall Street protesters are angry about: They are not against capitalism, but about Wall Street dishonesty and greed.”

“Entertainment Weekly” gave it an A-, describing that “it puts you right up close to the decision-making, the mix of greed, fear, and cunning. But it captures how our financial institutions became secret havens to a selfishness so undiluted it was sociopathic.”

It warns, however, that " ‘Margin Call' has pace problems in its second half; it peaks a little too early.” And Ebert warned that the film's most likeable creature is the dog owned by one of the characters. The film also stars Kevin Spacey and Demi Moore.

The Odyssey Arts and Cultural Events Series features various events throughout the year. A schedule can be found at www.pnc.edu . For information about this film or any event in the Odyssey series, contact Judy Jacobi, PNC assistant vice chancellor of Marketing and Campus Relations, at 785-5200, ext. 5593. Persons with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Jacobi.