THE DEAL American Directions

Spearheaded by Christian Slater as a Wall Street high financier, this politically charged thriller tackles the hypocrisy of America’s military intervention in the Middle East, as well as the mentality of closing the deal no matter what the cost.

Abbey, an environmental activist and recent Harvard Business School graduate played by Selma Blair, serves as a perfect foil to Slater’s Tony Gillette. T he plot winds suspensefully through illegal oil trafficking, moles, cutthroat rivalry and murder. Brought in to work on a high-end deal purchasing a Russian oil company, Tom starts to dig deeper and finds things are not what they seem-and people want it to stay that way. Prying into the truth of the matter, Tom and Abbey find their own blood may soon be spilled in exchange for oil. Like the great thrillers of Hitchcock, the film’s twists and turns stem from the nature of the characters, who find trouble because they can’t help being themselves. In the riveting climax, everything boils down to who they are and how high their price.