Review of A Most Violent Year (2014) by Jeff B — 13 Feb 2015

A carefully plodded thinking mans morality tale, J.C. Chandor's awe-striking and atmospheric latest easily ranks as one of the decade's best crime stories. Many films have charted the less-than-successful attempt of social climbing criminals to go clean (The Long Good Friday, The Godfather Part III, Carlito's Way). This film does the same with a scrupulous business unsuccessfully trying to STAY clean. Its a sad and cynical parable reflecting American politics and commerce--not just today but for as the story knowingly relays through the ages. Through generous amounts of dialogue, the film plays out like a high-stakes white-knuckle chess match. You'd think that these sequences would feel too talky, but they only build the tension and suspense of this searing drama, which works excellently as both a character study and proto-gangster story. Like every word in a James Joyce novel, the lines of this film just like the photography and shots - are meticulously chosen and controlled expressions of these powerfully drawn characters.

In this R-rated crime-thriller set in New York City during 1981, an ambitious immigrant (Isaac) fights to protect his business and family (Chastain, et al) during the most dangerous year in the city's history.

Without the brilliant lead performance, itself meticulous and controlled, A Most Violent Year wouldn't amount to such an auteurial tour-de-force. If Inside Llweyn Davis didn't already compound this fact: Isaac is one of the best actors working today. With Chastain, who builds upon an already ridiculously great CV (The Help, Tree of Life, Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar), he brings immense heft to a thought-provoking, weighty story, and yes violent story. Whats amazing is that this film bowed in 2014 and amassed zero Academy Award nominations. Someone should've yelled miss-deal.

Bottom line: My Favorite Year.