Leonardo DiCaprio should get a supporting actor credit, so often is he namechecked in Cassius Michael Kim’s deft documentary about the brazen 1MDB Malaysian state fund scandal. Top billing goes to Jho Low, a Great Gatsby figure who, in cahoots with Goldman Sachs bankers and Malaysia’s former PM, is accused of swindling the country’s poorest out of some $1.42bn and is now on the run. He spent the money sucking up to Hollywood A-listers with lavish gifts and funding for the DiCaprio-starring movie The Wolf of Wall Street. Apt, since this documentary shares Scorsese’s theme of obscene greed, while Kuala Lumpur’s neon nightscape gives the feel of a Batman villain’s origin story. The Penguin, probably.
Man on the Run review – fine documentary about a starstruck Malaysian financial scandal
Sep 10 2023 - 1 min read
Cassius Michael Kim’s film tells the story of the man who financed Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street with billions of dollars allegedly stolen from Malaysia’s poorest people
Original: The Observer
Author: Ellen E Jones