The Laundromat

The Laundromat is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh with a screenplay by Scott Z. Burns. It is based on the book Secrecy World about the Panama Papers scandal by author Jake Bernstein. The film stars Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Robert Patrick, Jeffrey Wright, David Schwimmer, Matthias Schoenaerts, James Cromwell, and Sharon Stone. The Laundromat had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2019, and was released in select cinemas on September 27, 2019, before its streaming release on October 18, 2019, by Netflix. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Plot Lawyers Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca introduce themselves, along with the concept of money and credit. The pair serve as narrators for three stories of people around the world who are adversely affected by the machinations of their company, Mossack Fonseca. While the story has been somewhat fictionalized, the names of the law firm at the center of the scandal, along with those of its founders, were not. Characters Ellen Martin and her husband, Joe, are on a pleasure boat, the Ethan Allen at Lake George, New York, when it capsizes, drowning Joe and many others. When Ellen tries to get compensation from the boating company for Joe's death, she cannot because the reinsurance company that the boat company's owner and son, Matthew, bought their policy from, was sold to another company based out of Nevis. The Nevis-based company is actually a trust of one of Mossack's shell corporations, which is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fraud.