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#508 - A Most Violent Year
J.C. Chandor, 2014
In 1981 New York City, the owner of a heating oil company must contend with mounting pressure from organised crime outfits.
I watched J.C. Chandor's feature-length debut Margin Call a couple of months ago and thought it was a perfectly respectable ensemble drama, albeit one that got dragged down a bit by the fact that its jargon-heavy script about the events leading up to the Global Financial Crisis demanded constant attention in order to follow along. With A Most Violent Year, he downplays the verbosity while still attempting to make a sufficiently cerebral and morally complex drama, this time set against the backdrop of early-'80s New York. Oscar Isaac (who is shaping up to be one of my favourite new actors) leads the film as an up-and-coming businessman who is trying to get his oil company off the ground. Though he himself just wants to make a honest (if lucrative) living, he is beset on all sides by people trying to grind him down, whether it's the assistant district attorney (David Oyelowo) who is trying to dig up dirt on him or the actual criminal organisations who are trying to sabotage his operation by any means necessary. This even extends to his home life, where his wife (Jessica Chastain) plays Lady Macbeth as she encourages him to fight fire with fire and take a stand against the constant aggression, especially when it extends to their house.
A Most Violent Year definitely feels like a throwback to all the classic '70s dramas and thrillers that used the grimy and crime-infested New York City as not just a setting but also a character in its own right. This much even extends to the instances where the film tries to break up the various verbal exchanges with the occasional piece of external conflict, such as a gunfight erupting between one of Isaac's employees and some hired goons or a pitch-perfect homage to The French Connection that sees Isaac himself chasing down a hijacker. Aside from simply being the best scene in the film, that chase scene is good at illustrating just how well Chandor can stage a solid action sequence but it also exposes how overly dependent the film is on interpersonal conflict. Isaac delivers a suitably intense and driven performance as a man who is constantly struggling to do the right thing in a world that seems to want him to do anything but, while Chastain makes for an equally intense and driven character but in the complete opposite direction and generates some engaging arguments with Isaac in the process. Other solid cast members such as Oyelowo or Albert Brooks (as Isaac's attorney) also get in some good scenes with Isaac, especially the former. Though it's not quite as challenging to comprehend as Margin Call, there are still plenty of plot threads that you do need to pay close attention to in order to follow along, though the fact that the film is willing to pace itself by throwing in more viscerally thrilling scenes is a plus. As it stands, A Most Violent Year definitely has more than a few strengths thanks to some good performers and Chandor's willingness to balance out a mostly dialogue-driven film with some rather well-crafted and sparingly used action (which might just give it the edge over Margin Call), but it's still a way off from being a genuinely great movie.
J.C. Chandor, 2014
In 1981 New York City, the owner of a heating oil company must contend with mounting pressure from organised crime outfits.
I watched J.C. Chandor's feature-length debut Margin Call a couple of months ago and thought it was a perfectly respectable ensemble drama, albeit one that got dragged down a bit by the fact that its jargon-heavy script about the events leading up to the Global Financial Crisis demanded constant attention in order to follow along. With A Most Violent Year, he downplays the verbosity while still attempting to make a sufficiently cerebral and morally complex drama, this time set against the backdrop of early-'80s New York. Oscar Isaac (who is shaping up to be one of my favourite new actors) leads the film as an up-and-coming businessman who is trying to get his oil company off the ground. Though he himself just wants to make a honest (if lucrative) living, he is beset on all sides by people trying to grind him down, whether it's the assistant district attorney (David Oyelowo) who is trying to dig up dirt on him or the actual criminal organisations who are trying to sabotage his operation by any means necessary. This even extends to his home life, where his wife (Jessica Chastain) plays Lady Macbeth as she encourages him to fight fire with fire and take a stand against the constant aggression, especially when it extends to their house.
A Most Violent Year definitely feels like a throwback to all the classic '70s dramas and thrillers that used the grimy and crime-infested New York City as not just a setting but also a character in its own right. This much even extends to the instances where the film tries to break up the various verbal exchanges with the occasional piece of external conflict, such as a gunfight erupting between one of Isaac's employees and some hired goons or a pitch-perfect homage to The French Connection that sees Isaac himself chasing down a hijacker. Aside from simply being the best scene in the film, that chase scene is good at illustrating just how well Chandor can stage a solid action sequence but it also exposes how overly dependent the film is on interpersonal conflict. Isaac delivers a suitably intense and driven performance as a man who is constantly struggling to do the right thing in a world that seems to want him to do anything but, while Chastain makes for an equally intense and driven character but in the complete opposite direction and generates some engaging arguments with Isaac in the process. Other solid cast members such as Oyelowo or Albert Brooks (as Isaac's attorney) also get in some good scenes with Isaac, especially the former. Though it's not quite as challenging to comprehend as Margin Call, there are still plenty of plot threads that you do need to pay close attention to in order to follow along, though the fact that the film is willing to pace itself by throwing in more viscerally thrilling scenes is a plus. As it stands, A Most Violent Year definitely has more than a few strengths thanks to some good performers and Chandor's willingness to balance out a mostly dialogue-driven film with some rather well-crafted and sparingly used action (which might just give it the edge over Margin Call), but it's still a way off from being a genuinely great movie.