New York City – 1981 is rich with history of the troubling times the City had to endure. People were struggling to make a decent living, an honest living and the police were at the mercy of corruption and crime – which was at an all time high. And so we get the backdrop for J.C. Chandor‘s A Most Violent Year.
Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) is a self-made man, running his own up-and-coming heating oil company Standard Oil, but in the current times comes the threat of the corruption around him and it seems Abel is fighting a long battle on two fronts; an investigation the District Attorney’s Office by Assistant Director Attorney Lawrence (David Oyelowo) and the constant hijacking of his oil trucks which is costing him a few thousand a time. Abel, determined to persevere and stubborn in his ways refuses to play by the City’s rules and instead wants to keep his business as honest that it can be.
Abel is good at what he does, and it doesn’t hurt he has a strong-willed wife by his side looking after his back even when he doesn’t know it in Jessica Chastain‘s Anna. We’re alluded to the fact Anna has a somewhat darker background than Abel, that her family business leans more towards the side of gangster and she isn’t afraid to play that card if she has to – but Abel is determined to keep everything on the straight and narrow. They’re both stubborn and pig-headed and it’s why they make a very successful and powerful couple. But with more cards being stacked against Abel, how long can he resistance the urge to fight back against the City that only seems to respond to violence.
A Most Violent year is a fantastic body of work, with large characters and an explosive story, but on the surface you wouldn’t know it. You’ve got to look underneath to see the tension bubbling up slowly and while it may never explode in your face it definitely builds up enough to leave you on the edge of your seat.
That’s not to say this crime-thriller is for everyone. It’s a much quieter and a more personal affair than other great crime thrillers of recent years such as American Gangster and We Own The Night, and instead of getting a traditionally intense showdown at the end, Chandor instead decides to keep in tune with the rest of the film and have it play out more towards the real, gritty aspects of life, which are often a slightly dull compared to that of the movies.
If there’s one word that really sums up A Most Violent Year it’s atmosphere. The atmosphere lingers throughout the whole film, and you can often see it hung on the back of the actors as they play along with it at will. Isaac sells this particularly well as Abel is at a constant battle with his wife, his attorney (Albert Brooks) and even himself as he fights between what he thinks is the right thing and what might be the easy thing. He’s a highly ambitious man who keeps pushing himself forward rather than looking backwards all the time. He might well be out of his depth but as his character states during at one moment in the film, “When it feels scary to jump, that is exactly when you jump. Otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life”. And Morales is not the kind of man who can stay still for very long. Driven by ambition and ego he keeps fighting against the forces of the City hand-in-hand with his wife Anna to achieve his dreams.
A Most Violent Year is available on DVD and Blu-ray as of 18th May 2015.
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