Movies about investing — from Trading Places to The Wolf of Wall Street to The Big Short — tend to be celebratory or moralistic tales from Wall Street.

A new documentary that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, is different, capturing the personal and social costs and calculations made by a new tribe of individual investors.

“This is Not Financial Advice” follows four characters and a Greek chorus who explain the motivations and chaos that characterized the era of crypto and meme stocks.

The movie is anchored by Glauber Contessoto (known as “Pro”), who maxed out his credit cards to bet everything on crypto and become known as the “Dogecoin Millionaire.” The cast is rounded out by Rayz Rayl, a professional poker player who pivoted to crypto; community activist Senay Kenfe and TikTok influencer Kayla Kilbride.

The characters embody the explosion of retail investors spawned by the pandemic. These are not people in pinstripes. No one has a 401k. Only one has a conventional job.

They share a desire for wealth and the willingness to make enormous upfront sacrifices to funnel savings into the market. They differ in the pursuit. The film lays bare the intensity of feelings about money and class in America.

The commentators don’t come from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan or Citibank. They are, however, familiar from social media. Josh Brown, Morgan Housel, Genevieve Roch-Decter, Chris Camillo, Patrick McGinnis and The Fat Jewish. Their credibility is established by follower counts.

Co-director Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci wanted to explain the Gamestop era and tell the broader story about the retail revolution that accompanied the emergence of trading platforms such as Robinhood.

They posted about the idea on social media and rounded up funding and the cast. They started filming, assuming a narrative would emerge.

Pro dominates screen time. As his holdings of Dogecoin rocket from $180,000 to close to $3 million, he is profiled by the New York Times and becomes a YouTube celebrity.

The filmmakers juxtapose his crypto winnings with his bank account, which remains consistently under $130. Sometimes it is in the red.

It’s painful to watch his friends and mother urge him to take money off the table.

Pro won’t sell because his identity has become intertwined with Dogecoin. He’s promised his YouTube followers. Pro is no Gordon Gekko or Jordan Belfort. For him, it’s more about the community than the money.

The filmmakers take full advantage afforded by the access. There are delightful camera angles as well as “I can’t believe they got that on camera” shots that define the characters.

Pro, with millions in his crypto account, lugs his laundry down the block. Rayl, having lost his home, is living in his storage unit while still trading crypto. Kilbride is on the beach at sunset with her crew of millennials explaining dollar cost averaging. Kenfe is serenely reading a book.

Kenfe balances the film. He scrimps and saves, advocating a philosophy that recalls Peter Lynch’s “buy what you know.” He eats cereal, so General Mills is a good bet. His dream is to buy a building next door and help transform the neighborhood.

One scene that stands out is when Pro is shopping for celery at Costo and he realizes he made $179,000 standing in line. He looks at the camera amazed.

Filmmaker Chris Temple told me that at that moment he thought: “What am I doing? I’m a broke filmmaker.” After the scene he went out and bought Dogecoin himself.

It underscores the gravitational pull of money.

Josh Brown correctly notes: “That’s not investing success. That’s lottery success.”

You can argue that Pro is gambling not investing, but the best thing about the movie is that it doesn’t judge. It’s a portrait of the world as it is today.

As the movie starts, everyone is hustling and struggling. Disasters ensue.

In a quintessentially American twist, everything seems to work out.

Everyone gets a happy ending, and the film ends on a high note that would have seemed impossible at the beginning.

Pro never sells, but he does cash in.

The film ends with him using his celebrity to build a new life as an online promoter.