Director: J C Chandor
By Alex Watson
Set against the often violent and corrupt world of the oil business, J C Chandor's A Most Violent Year is an excellently paced movie. Set against the record violence of 1981 New York, the tension is forever building as what appears to be a bold move turns into something that could derail a dream completely. From here morals become more clouded and events take a turn down a darker and more vicious avenue to show that to achieve the American Dream, sometimes to take more than being honest!
Businessman Adel Morales (Oscar Isaac) is an ambitious man who owns an oil company. Along with loyal wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) they seemingly completely a risky but vital deal to secure a riverside refinery and it appears set that he is due for big things. But his competitors are less than thrilled about business being taken away and seem determined to derail this transaction and set about to oust him by any means necessary.
Although Adel is determined to stay legitimate, from the very beginning of Chandor's picture it is made apparent he may have to fight underhanded to keep his head above water. What starts as a perfect opportunity of buying a refinery which will give him more access to cheap oil prices and more direct routes for oil imports quickly becomes a living nightmare. Soon his business is targeted from all sides. Suspicious thugs converge on their house along with the Feds, led by assistant DA Anderson (David Oyelowo). Even his long standing bank connections withdrawn on him. Truck drivers are violently robbed at gun point and Anna demands he stop standing aside and begin fighting back.
Corruption swirls in the air, not matter where you look. Adel is desperate not to resort to the gangster style lengths of Anna's 'Cheap Brooklyn Gangster' father. But there is a notion that he cannot build his own empire without a little bloodshed. A morally complex character throughout, he is a hard work who has built his world up by hard work and honest living- something he prides himself on. Essentially he is the ordinary man forced into a desperate place and is now having to fight back against his better judgement.
His relationship with Anna is the main firing point of A Most Violent Year as she is very much the immaculately styled Lady Macbeth figure of Chandor's picture. The daughter of a Gangster, Anna is not afraid to sink to lower than she needs to. One key scene sees her coldy shoot a stricken deer they have hit with their car, because it is easier that way! She is the steely presence and the real backbone to Adel's business and will go to great lengths to protect it. "You not gonna like what happens once I get involved" she breathlessly tells her husband, and we absolutely believe it!
The key firing point of this movie though comes from the excellent chemistry of Isaac and Chastain. As the everyman forced into a corner, Oscar Isaac excels as the conflicted Adel. In what is perhaps his strongest performance of his career, his character is given a resolve that sees him through even the worse situations. His guilt doesnt burden him but instead makes him more resourceful. As Anna, Jessica Chastain lights up the screen as the icy yet supportive and husky wife. Her motives and actions may be questionable, but she is the kind of wife you would kill for as she will help you stay ahead, no matter what!
J C Chandor is quickly establishing himself as one of Hollywood's most promising new directors and A Most Violent Year is a film that holds our attention firmly. The oil business is not one for the faint of heart, but this on screen couple are a pair with hearts of stone and the result is just electric! Shame Oscar missed out these two performances.
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