K-SCORE: 95
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Writer: Bill Dubuque
Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal
Spoiler Level: Moderate
“didn’t express enough disdain for the IRS”
El Contador is a documentary about my brother Graham, an accountant / crazy person, and, though I wasn’t positive about all the details, apparently a rather proficient killer of thieves, thugs, corrupt corporate cronies, and other low-life scumbuckets. I’ve suspected this was the case for a long time and I’m glad Gavin O’Connor and writer Bill Dubuque did the challenging work of studying him and making a film about his career and lifestyle choices.
Ben Affleck’s performance as Graham, though compelling, wasn’t always flawless. He writes on windows and blackboards instead of being firmly committed to Microsoft Excel for doing whatever boring stuff with numbers accountants do. Ben Affleck goes with a Barrett M82A1M sniper rifle when I’m pretty sure Graham prefers the McMillan Tac-338. Despite what the film depicts, he does not wear a pocket square because he knows it’s socially uncouth to do so. All of the paintings the character admires do not have nearly enough snow in them for Graham to hang them on the walls of his bug-out trailer. Affleck didn’t express enough disdain for the IRS when talking about tax deductions for square-footage of home space allotted to semi-business usage. Our parents are not dead. But you know… creative license or whatever.
I’m glad they made this documentary, not just because it’s informative and a little entertaining, (I mean, it is about an accountant. They talk about profit and loss statements.) but also because it’s a surprisingly excellent film. The script is cinched tight in all places. The scenes move quickly, loop back to each other, develop backstories at appropriate times that become relevant as the central conflict progresses, and all illuminate the details of a very interesting protagonist with a much-needed and beloved message thrown in about autism. There’s some great stuff about brotherhood and fatherhood as well.
GRAHAM'S W2-CENTS
Finally, a movie that gets the world of accounting right. Probably the best Hollywood-accounting mash-up since PWC started counting Oscar votes. El Contador almost perfectly mirrors my own career as a CPA. Joyfully sifting through fifteen years of vendor invoices, monotonously training in Indonesian Silat martial arts, convincing ignorant clients that their jewelry-making activity is a legit business not a hobby and obviously the day-to-day sniping of nameless protection teams. To boot, Christian Wolf and I face many of the same problem. What do you buy when sitting on too much cash? Should you install your mini gun in the front of the house or the back? How do you impress Anna Kendrick despite extreme aversion to social interaction? If there’s a missing puzzle piece how do you carry on in life? Great movie, one glaring mistake. All accountants love donuts. Seriously my entire success as an accountant is based on this fundamental premise.
I give it 990 out of 1040.
My complaints are few. I suppose I should mention them anyway. Some of the dialogue bits fell into the category of cliche, especially one at the end. Jon Bernthal - (who looks much better with hair) his character didn’t rightly explain how he got into his business and how often it accidentally or perhaps on purpose targets innocent young women. One scene made him seem righteous and another but a merc for hire. And if J.K. Simmons had such a deeply-rooted connection and working relationship with the contador, why did he force that girl to dig up information on who he was and where his base of operations was located. Surely there was another way to pass on his Commissioner Gordon-esque duties to that woman, right? But don’t let the rough patches deter you. This is movie is great; the best I’ve seen in quite some time.
I wonder if they’ll make a sequel. There’s lots of room for growth. They barely touched on the pulse-pounding excitement of preparing tax returns for organizations with 501c3 status or explaining to small business owners the impact of foreign investments. Also there were insufficient knife fights. Plus Anna Kendrick could jump back into the next one, if only because her role was too easy this time. She got to literally sleep through a quarter of her scenes.