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The Beguiled shows how good will, morality and Christian principles go out the window when reality, human desires and human forces come bubbling up in a sheltered world. A world populated by sheltered people containing high ideals. The movie does have it' s weaknesses, mainly an uneven and weak script. Also omissions, like who laundered their impeccable and beautiful white dresses and kept the house running? Of course they had servants( slaves), it was the Civil War and was in Virginia!!. The film set a nice atmospheric mood but was a bit too dark visually ( Barry Lyndon was more successful with candlelit scenes). The Beguiled contained stunningly beautiful shots that looked like old photographs. Good,performances all around with a limited script to use.

Saw this at New Directors festival in NYC and really enjoyed and was engrossed in this film. A great cast with splendid performances. The film is very intense and although it is about a company involved in the financial meltdown of 2008, it really is about much more. I particularly liked the way the film depicts the frightening absolute and ruthless power of the corporation over the lives of people that work there as well as the implications and ripples for everyone else.How those people get sucked in to the embrace, security and pleasures of what the corporations have to offer and the consequences and vulnerabilities of those choices.The freedom and comforts that we cherish here in twenty first century USA are not as secure as we might think. Don't want to say much more, other than that "Margin Call" is very involving and in the end affecting and thought provoking.It packs a powerful punch.

While I do agree with many of the comments and criticisms of fellow reviewers on this site that there is much cliché,a narrow, outdated and perplexing depiction of the gay experience today, and some offensiveness.I have to say that the interaction of the 14 year old boy with an older man is one of the most powerful, intense, moving and poetic moments I have seen on film in a very long time. Those scenes are well worth the price of admission. Even though their interaction is between two gay characters and two characters far apart in age it transcends those particulars to capture emotional human truths and longings relevant and recognizable to everyone. I was so moved by those scenes that it took my breath away and left me stunned and fulfilled . I do not say this lightly, see for yourself. Rarely do we get to glimpse a depiction of the inner workings of human desire, longing,loss, repression, redemption, salvation , inner struggle, despair, loneliness, joy and fear crammed into one spectacular moment. The two actors were incredibly focused, present and controlled. It was like watching a very intense dance number, with the pacing and movement timed just right to impart the perfect punch. Do not miss this. This is art.