Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

"Abacus" is probably the only film made in the past decade that could get an audience rooting for a bank, but it does just that.

Using drawings and courtroom testimony, James creates a tense courtroom drama out of seemingly dry material.

Steve James's impressively economical documentary folds together the events that led to the case, the place of Abacus in the Chinese-American community, the 2015 trial, and its aftermath.

It's not every day that you end up rooting for a bank, but the story "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" tells is no ordinary tale.

The lack of action is made up for by the gumption of the accused banking family, whose respect for each other is apparent even as they bicker and interrupt each other over trial strategy, press releases and the catered lunch.

The film's director, who would make an excellent character witness for the defence, raises ... questions but frustratingly doesn't answer them in an otherwise compelling documentary.

An acutely observed portrait of the lives of first and second generation Chinese immigrants, subjects who otherwise don't see much in the way of Hollywood limelight.

The modesty of its subjects, both corporate and human, clearly rubbed off on James who has crafted a standardly assembled yet no less enthralling documentary about what is now a particularly peculiar footnote in the history of American law

When Steve James's documentary suggests that Abacus was the victim of a concerted Establishment plot... it doesn't have quite enough evidence for a conviction, but it is an absorbing study of the court case, the bank and Chinatown itself.

A sweet and sometimes moving, if ultimately minor, film about a hopelessly inadequate fraud case from 2012.

This intricate but accessible study seeks to put a human face on the 2008 credit crunch and its aftermath.

Disarmingly human moments - the Sung daughters, all high-powered lawyers, fret over their 80-year-old father's disappointing sandwich - pepper this compelling courtroom drama.