Written and directed by Kim Nguyen, The Hummingbird Project focuses on the ruthless drive in making billions of dollars in the digital world.

The story follows two cousins from New York. Vincent, played by Jesse Eisenberg, and Anton, played by Alexander Skarsgard, are trying to be game changers in the high-stakes game of High-Frequency Trading, which is computer-controlled trading with high-volume in a very short timespan. Winnings are measured in milliseconds.

The cousin’s dream is to build a straight fiber-optic cable line between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is as easy as it seems on paper because of the cousin’s unforeseen stumbling blocks.

Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to the breaking point with their foolish and impractical adventure.

Constantly riding their backs and pushing them their old boss Eva Torres, played by Salma Hayek. She is a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader and she stops at nothing to come between them and beat them at their own game.

Nguyen is best known for writing and directing War Witch, which follows a child soldier coerced into a civil war in Africa and is claimed to be a witch. 

Watch the movie trailer and feel the silliness and intensity of the movie.

Skarsgard is so good to watch on film. He takes on the role and becomes that person using nuances of tone and unspoken expressions. He stars in The Aftermath playing a German after WW II when his country is rebuilding. He is great in that role as well playing against Kiera Knightley.

The following clips tell the story in a roundabout way. The script movies along at a nice pace and the actors eat it up. The clip where he tells her what he is trying to achieve explains the reason for the title of the movie.