A Most Violent Year

I wasn’t blown away by this film at first, but after thinking about it for a while, I began to realize its greatness.

A Most Violent Year is the story of Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), a man fighting to keep his business alive in New York in 1981. Abel is in the process of buying more land for his business at the beginning of the movie, and has a 30 day contract to meet the requirements. Meanwhile, Abel’s trucks are constantly being hijacked, causing a lot of employee injuries and money loss. Abel’s business is also dealing with legal trouble during this time. Throughout the film Abel, and at times his wife Anna (Jessica Chastain), have to try and juggle all of these issues to keep his business afloat and keep things running smoothly. There are other major events that happen later on in the film, but I don’t want to give too much away.

This film is very slow paced. A Most Violent Year runs on dialogue. At times the dialogue is great, like some of the “speeches” that Oscar Isaac gives or the scenes between Chastain and Isaac. But during some scenes where Isaac has to have a business meeting or talk to associates, the dialogue can become pretty dry. The majority of the movie is written very well, there are just a few scenes here and there that don’t have the same quality dialogue. I wish that some of the supporting characters would have had more development, but the main characters Abel and Anna Morales are developed very well, and are very rich and well rounded. One character that was especially wasted was Andrew Walsh (Albert Brooks). He rarely has much to say, and never really makes any character defining decisions, he just kind of follows Abel around and helps him with whatever he needs. Albert Brooks is great in this role, I just wish that he had more to do and say. I think that A Most Violent Year would have benefitted from a longer running time to help develop some of the other characters. Let’s move on to acting.

If you need one reason to see this film, it is for Oscar Isaac’s performance. Isaac plays the cool, calm, and collective businessman perfectly. He keeps his cool when he needs to, and plays it with such stunning precision and accuracy. He is mesmerizing in this film, both in his held back and calmer scenes, and in his more emotional scenes. Oscar Isaac’s performance is easily the best part about this movie, and he did not disappoint me at all. What DID disappoint me was that Isaac didn’t get an Oscar nomination for this.

Jessica Chastain is also great in this movie. She plays a very intense and unpredictable character, and she does this very well. She has some great scenes, and while she wasn’t in the movie a whole lot, when she was on screen she delivered.

This is not a main performance, but I feel that it needs to be addressed anyway. Elyes Gabel plays Julian, a truck driver for Abel and he gives an impressive performance that shows us what a talented young actor he is. I hope that we will see him in more films, because he was very good in A Most Violent Year.

The cinematography in A Most Violent Year is fantastic. The film is very dimly lit, but it works well for the tone and atmosphere of the movie. The lighting and color of the film is gorgeous and yet dark. An uglier side of New York is captured with unexpected beauty. A Most Violent Year has some of the best camerawork I’ve seen all year, and it’s a shame that it didn’t get an Oscar nomination.The music in this, while subtle and quiet, is also very good.

I was hoping for a big revelation, or something hugely profound at the end of this movie to remind me of its greatness and send me out of the theater saying “Wow” but it never really happened. A Most Violent Year is more about the journey and everything that the protagonists have been through by the end. There’s no grand finale, no big sendoff, the movie just kind of ends. For a little while after the movie I was disappointed by this, but looking back now I’ve realized that it works for the movie. This is a quiet and low-key movie, and it is fitting that the ending be that way also. I think that this film needs time to sit, and simmer in your brain. Give it time to sink in and you begin to realize how much the film actually accomplishes in two hours, and how much the main characters accomplish.

Overall, A Most Violent Year is an impressive film that has a lot going for it. Great acting, very well written main characters, beautiful cinematography, and a unique story. Sure, the story moves very slowly and that may not work for some people, but the story is still nonetheless interesting and unique. There are some underdeveloped themes and characters in the movie, and not all of the dialogue is tremendous or necessarily exciting, but there is still much more good than bad in this movie. A Most Violent Year is a film that improves over time. I was unsure of it at first, but after giving it some time I’ve realized how great it was despite its problems.

__________________
Through the darkness of future past
The magician longs to see
One chants out between two worlds:
Fire walk with me.