A Most Violent Year

Having seen it a few days ago, the more I think of "A Most Violent Year", the more I like it.

This is not a spoiler, but a friendly tip: don't expect a lot of what the title implies, because the movie does not focus on violence.

While there are tense and violent moments, the movie's strenght lies in the performances and the interactions between characters.

Oscar Isaac plays Abel, a businessman who is trying to make a clean living while being more and more pressured by an unknown threat. The competition plays dirty while he wants to stay an honest man.

Abel's moral struggle is what the narrative revolves around. Jessica Chastain play Anna, Abel's wife and business partner. She is equally as powerful, assertive and dominant as he is, if not more so.

The director did a wonderful job at creating a tense, sad and dramatic mood throughout. The cinematography is wonderful, the subtle moody soundtrack plays a big part in creating a feeling of impending doom throughout the entire movie, and I am very impressed by the recreation of a 1981 New York. It's very immersive.

While nothing mainstream audiences will drool over, I find "A Most Violent Year" an excellent drama. If you like this movie, you should give "The Two Faces Of January" a chance as well. Not only you would notice what a chameleon Oscar Isaac is, but you might enjoy the classic mood and character-driven vibe of that film as well.

This is a movie I often don't recommend to any of my friends because I truly feel it takes someone with a certain level of appreciation for film and the patience to watch this plot unfold. Now I don't mean for that to come off as snobbish, but this is a movie that could easily be cast off as boring by people who are just looking for an entertaining film. However, if you are a person who possess some level of appreciation for film and would like to see a good, albeit slow tale, I would highly recommend this movie.

The first thing of note in this movie is Oscar Issac's performance. He plays Abel Morales, an entrepreneur who runs a fuel company. He is one of Hollywood's best rising stars, and he shows what he's got in this film. He gives a very subtle, even performance that is reflective of his character, and it works very well. Jessica Chastain is also very good as his wife, and her character's primary motivation is her children and their safety. I felt that she really cared about her kids.

I don'y want to go too much into the story because it is a good one. But the fine details of the story is not what matters. It is the intricacy of the characters that is the important aspect of this film. To see how hard Abel will work for his family and his legacy shows the drive of man, and a sort of twisted sense of the American dream.

Chandor (All is Lost) is one of the more prolific young directors working. With AMVY, an adult mystery-drama-thriller, he screams of the classics: tension of French Connection, quiet of Chinatown, and menace of Mean Streets. It's a fantastic period piece that creates an authentic, distinct look at 1980s New York, while tonally replicating films from that era. Is it a bit TOO quiet and a bit TOO slow at times? Yep…but the taut skill on display is too good to ignore. Abel Morales, a successful, hardworking oil company owner, tries to thrive and survive during 1981 NYC, the most violent year in history. Despite this premise, the crime-action is more a successfully imminent background thought than a constant in-your- face presence. As the movie progresses and ultimately gets better, the subtle suspense builds, and each individual incident pushes Morales closer to his breaking point. Isaac shines in the protagonist role, playing one of the coolest characters around: broken yet proud, strong yet vulnerable, decent yet pressed, and shrewdly bad-to-the-bone. I wish Chastain was a bit more up to the task as his ominous, hardly-doting wife, but luckily she's not a huge distraction to the otherwise stellar acting by some of Hollywood's great new talents. Throughout the solid work being done, we are presented with some great things to ponder: wanting the American dream without knowing why; struggling to be successful without becoming corrupt; juggling humility and pride in a world that drains you. Unfortunately the character's relationships with these different questions bring the movie to a bore at times. Mostly though, it manages to be a solid little award-season drama.

I've been amazed at some of the slams this movie has taken. No story? Boring? Slow? You've got to be kidding. This was a fascinating character study of an "honorable man" trying to retain his honor in a corrupt business and political environment. From the title, I was expecting more of a traditional Martin Scorcese gangster flick, so I was surprised (pleasantly) that "violence" of the film was primarily about two codes of life clashing against one another. I can certainly understand a viewer attracted to the film because of the word "violence" ibeing disappointed at seeing so little on the screen. But I found the film riveting: excellent plotting, great writing and superb performances.

It's 1981 NYC, and it's not American Hustle. A Most Violent Year is set in the most brutal year in the city's history, when Mayor Koch and the DA would not like it to be so. While Hustle sets the scene with humor and style, Violent is happy to understate lawlessness and concentrate on the dialogue, which has undercurrents of corruption in each syllable.

Oscar Isaac plays immigrant, oil delivery company owner, Abel Morales, with an Al-Pacino veneer that goes low key, not Godfather or Scarface operatic. His double-breasted suits and ever-present camel overcoat suggest the smooth, verbal, charismatic, but unassuming business owner who wants to be as straight as his wardrobe. It's a difficult ideal because someone is hijacking his oil trucks and selling the oil on the black market.

What to do? His wife Anna (Jessica Chastain), beautiful but born to a crime family, is at times more ready to deal with the sabotage in a traditional mob way than her husband is. But Morales deals with it in a civilized, diplomatic way that of course makes him and his employees vulnerable to the rude, irrational hoodlums.

Director J.C. Chandor knows minimalist dialogue, apparent in his All is Lost, where Robert Redford gives out with one line but an Oscar worthy performance anyway. Much more dialogue here, still minimal, but it has the David Mamet attention to the power of each word.

In a world Sidney Lumet depicted quite well, everyone has a brush with lawlessness, from truck drivers to cops to politicians—no one is exempt, except maybe Morales, who tries to do the "best right" thing in the face of pressure to use violence as the tried-and-true technique. That's why this is such a sweet action, crime drama: You can identify with the protagonist and not be bogged down by gratuitous violence.

This is one of the best action-crime dramas in years. Isaac is Pacino without his edginess; Chandor's dialogue is soft Mamet, a welcome substitute for rude bullets. Indeed, while the film is titled A Most Violent Year, it is not the most violent movie. Leave that to Martin Scorsese.