Joel Viertel

Joel Viertel’s filmography is honestly a wild little ride through some very different corners of cinema. First, there’s The Adjustment Bureau from 2011—honestly, it’s one of those movies that gets under your skin a bit, you know? Matt Damon running around New York, hat on, dodging fate itself. Viertel was on board for that, and it’s not your everyday sci-fi flick. There’s this whole dance between free will and destiny, plus those mysterious guys in suits who seem to have all the answers and none at all. It’s slick, philosophical, but not in a pretentious way—more like, “Hey, what if someone was actually pulling the strings on your life?” Gets people thinking. Then you swing over to Conventioneers from 2005, and wow, different tempo entirely. This one’s indie to the core. Quarter-life crisis vibes, lots of awkward laughs, set against some political backdrop that actually feels pretty real. Like, imagine meeting someone who’s your total opposite at a political convention and catching feelings anyway. Viertel’s touch is all over it, balancing humor with a bit of biting reality. And The Banker, 2020—now that one’s all about breaking barriers. Real-life story, big issues: race, money, power. Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson in the lead, and they just eat up the screen. Viertel’s hand in this? You can tell—sharp storytelling, no-nonsense pacing, and he never lets the message drown out the human side of things. Each film, totally different flavor, but you can feel that same curiosity poking through: what makes people tick, what makes them rebel, and who really calls the shots.