Alex Gibney is quickly becoming one of our most significant documentarian, having made “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and "Taxi to the Dark Side" 9among others, His new feature, “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” is a nonfictional work that’s effective as a character-based drama and a modern-day noir with real-life characters that we know, and a story we thought we knew, but did not.
The film depicts the web of contradictions, complexities and conspiracies involved in the career of Eloit Spitzer. Gibney, as is his wont, achieves incredible access not only to the rich and powerful figures in our economy, as well as the shadowy world of high-priced escort services.
Hank Greenberg, ex-CEO of AIG, which was at the center of the financial meltdown- goes on the record about Spitzer, as does Ken Langone and Joe Bruno. But then there is Eliot Spitzer himself, who in a series of riveting and provocative encounters provides vial information about our economic situation and its implications in the short run and in the long run.
Going way beyond a portrait of a politician, the riveting documentary “Client 9“ provides an extreme close-up of the intersection of political bloodsport, power and greed.
