A very different type of New York gangster story, Martin Scorsese’s late career banger The Wolf of Wall Street shows that the veteran director remains as subversive and risk-taking as ever. Recounting the (somehow) true story of stockbroker-turned-criminal-turned-motivational speaker Jordan Belfort, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers what is possibly his greatest performance in this epic tale of a man’s meteoric rise and fall.
DiCaprio plays Belfort, a young stockbroker who sets up a trading firm in early 90s New York with his friend Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill).
Their wild excess, and questionable success, soon draw the attention of the FBI. But Belfort is a wolf who will not cornered, and doubles down on both his shady practises and wild lifestyle, in the process drawing his wife (a breakout role for a brilliant Margot Robbie) and everyone in his orbit closer to ruin.
Also featuring Matthew McConaughey in a memorable cameo, this 2013 film is a wild, outrageous portrait of excess, and the brutish, male business world of Wall Street in the 80s and 90s. Scorsese delivers another pitch perfect portrait of American hubris, in which a world of lavish success turns into a nightmare.