Review of A Most Violent Year (2014) by Greg T — 11 Feb 2015

1980s New York was a vicious, brutal and terrifying place. Times Square was a haven for pimps, prostitutes and street thugs, the Bowery an oppressive maze of dank bars and belligerent drunkards, and Central Park a decaying and lawless wasteland. You only have to watch the grindhouse films of the time, like "New York Ripper" or "Basket Case", to see the kind of milieu that New Yorkers had to wade through - it was a tough place for tough characters.

J C Chandor's third film as writer/director explores what strength and what sacrifices were needed to create and grow a big business at a time where gangsters ruled the streets and corporate disagreements were settled with a bullet. Telling the story of Abel, the ambitious owner of an up-and-coming heating oil business, "A Most Violent Year" finds its drama in desolate urban landscapes, bleak and dangerous suburbs, and threat-laden conversations that could easily spill into violence.

Abel is on the verge of the biggest deal of his life that will catapult him into the big leagues, but he's also dealing with his vehicles being hijacked, his drivers being beaten up in broad daylight, and an investigation into his finances that could bring the whole house of cards crashing down. He is always on the move, careering from meeting to deal to snatched time with his wife and family, keeping his life in some kind of precarious balance, though in the most violent year one of the world's most violent cities has ever known, it's only a matter of time before the cracks start to show.

"A Most Violent Year" takes its cue from the quiet, gut-punch morality dramas of Sidney Lumet and James Grey rather than the visceral and stylised thrills of Scorsese and de Palma, more a character study that a gangster epic (indeed, Abel is adamant throughout that, unlike Henry Hill, he never wanted to become a gangster). But within these bounds Chandor delivers a thrilling, riveting and enormously impressive film, anchored by outstanding performances from Oscar Isaac as the intimidating and charismatic Abel, and Jessica Chastain as his viperish wife, all coiled venom and threat waiting to be unleashed on a world that has no idea what's in store for it. And amongst the business meetings and desperate deal-making, Chandor crafts not only one of the best chase scenes since "Carlito's Way", but also a fantastically melodramatic ending that proves one thing - in this life of oil and crime, there most certainly will be blood, though not always from the person who most deserves it.

"A Most Violent Year" is a subdued film that spreads its canvas as wide as Abel's ambition - as he absorbs the Manhattan vista from the riverside, it's difficult not to think of his predecessors, all the way back to that Scottish king, who also regarded the world as theirs for the taking. And in its final moments Chandor unleashes the potential for Abel's story to stretch far beyond this violent year into a decade of political intrigue, bloodshed and moral murkiness reminiscent of Michael Corleone's journey. For once, it's a story that will be well worth the telling.