The key to telling an historical drama, no matter what the subject matter is, often centers on the entertainment factor. Even if the story is deadly serious, if your audience is not having a good time, your ship is sunk. That doesn’t mean a Holocaust movie or a film about slavery needs to be fun, but there needs to be captivating actor, a narrative you invest in, and an overall feeling that what you’re watching isn’t homework. Luckily, The Banker checks off all of these boxes. The first foray into prestige cinema by Apple TV+ is a charming, as well as important, success story. Delayed from 2019 into 2020, it’s likely no longer an Academy Award hopeful, but it’s still a story well executed and well worth seeing. The film is a drama, somewhat fictionalizing the true story of how two African American men secretly started a business empire in the 1960s. Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie) is a determined entrepreneur. A business savant, Bernard has doors closed to him only because of the color of his skin. Bernard’s wife Eunice (Nia Long) puts him into contact with club owner Joe Morris (Samuel L. Jackson), a man with money to spend. Together, they devise a plan to take on the racist establishment of the era by helping other African Americans pursue the American dream. To do this, they begin buying a number of real estate properties, and eventually a large bank. To do this, Bernard, Eunice, and Joe train a working class white man in Matt Steiner (Nicholas Hoult) to pose as the face of their empire. Eventually, as they add more and more to their banking industry, Bernard and Joe Garrett pose as a janitor and a chauffeur, respectively, in order to run things behind the scenes. Eventually, their success draws the attention of the federal government, which doesn’t bode well for them. In the end, everything that the quartet has built will be threatened, unless they have a little more magic up their sleeves. George Nolfi directs, as well as co-writes with Niceole Levy, David Lewis Smith, and Stan Younger (with a story credit going to David Lewis Smith and Younger, as well Brad Caleb Kane). Rounding out the cast are the likes of Paul Ben-Victor, Taylor Black, Colm Meaney, Jessie T. Usher, and more. The music here is by H. Scott Salinas, while cinematography comes from Charlotte Bruus […]