Review of A Most Violent Year (2014) by Art S — 26 Mar 2016

Grim, somewhat turgid, tale of a heating oil executive contending with a variety of stresses in early '80s NYC. Oscar Isaac is subdued in the lead, perhaps because he plays an extremely controlled guy who is motivated to overcome the obstacles against all odds (which include robbers hijacking his trucks, the district attorney bringing down corruption charges, and a risky business play that starts to go sour).

Jessica Chastain is his crass wife, daughter of the previous company president who ran the company as a gangster rather than in the upstanding way Isaac wishes to pursue, and she is a piece of work (but doesn't always feel as though she is in the same film with the others).

So, it's an unusual story - about a business man, his wife, his banker, and his lawyer (played by an unrecognizable Albert Brooks...except for his voice) - that threatened not to hold my interest.

I mean, who cares about business guys? Although there are elements of a thriller embedded in the story, they feel tacked on to the plot in order to stop the anaemia. The grimy New York locations and sad old cars only add to the effect.