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A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (review)

Review by Elizabeth Robbins 
Produced by J. C. Chandor, Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb
Written and Directed by J. C. Chandor
Starring Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, 
Alessandro Nivola, Albert Brooks,  Ashley Williams, 
Elyes Gabel, Harris Yulin, Giselle Eisenberg

The close of the year brought us a plethora of things; snow, the holidays, and the annual rush of Academy Awards Oscar bids.

With a December 31st limited release in New York and LA, A Most Violent Year squeaked into qualification for the 2015 nominations.

But when the nominations for the Oscars were announced on January 15th, A Most Violent Year was no where to be seen.

Was it an snub?  I have to say in my opinion, for the most part, I don’t think so.

A Most Violent Year is the story of a successful immigrant businessman, Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis, upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

The film follows Morales as he works to break ahead of his fellow competitors in an ambitious business deal. In a business fraught with political corruption and mob ties, Morales tries to stay true to his moral compass, protect his family from a turf war, and stay ahead of an ambitious DA who sees Morales as his opportunity to taking down a corrupt industry.

All of this is set against the tarnished landscape of New York City in 1981, historically a year where the violent crimes in New York had reached an all time high.

A Most Violent Year has all the components of an Academy recognized drama.

Oscar Isaac is brilliant as Abel Morales. He strides the line between ruthless and morally conscious with a perfect balance. In some ways his portrayal of Morales reminded me of a young Al Pacino in the first godfather, struggling not to become involved in the “family business”.

Jessica Chasten (Zero Dark Thirty, The Help) is hypnotic as Anna Morales, Abel’s wife. Watching Anna vacillate between being the good, supportive wife, and the tough-as-nails mafioso daughter who is infinitely more dangerous than her husband is entertaining. The performance of these two fine actors were the saving grace of an otherwise mostly unremarkable film.

Albert Brooks, a undisputedly talented actor, was wasted in a one dimensional character, and David Oyelowo’s deft performance as the ambitious District Attorney was short on screen time.

The film lacked depth and texture. With the exception of a few things on the surface such as cars and lead character’s clothes, costume design and make-up completely missed the mark. It was like they tried to fit a 2014 aesthetic into the 1980’s.

In a lighter film that might work. However, A Most Violent Year appeared to be attempting authenticity. Unfortunately, it was not achieved. The devil is in the details. Don’t wax your leading man when you are portraying an era where Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck are your examples of masculinity.

The film just never really felt like New York of the early Eighties. It was a dangerous time. New York felt bigger, grittier, darker then.

That danger was almost completely lacking in the film. A few of Morales’ employees are violently assaulted, but the acts are so far telegraphed ahead of time that instead of suspense or shock, I was left with a, “Well, you should have seen that coming, Dummy”.

The writing often smacked of someone thinking that they were being clever, but showing their hand too often. A talented, capable, and moral main character named Abel Morales.

Really? Is this supposed to be a Dickens’ novel?

The development of Morales character is plodding and predictable in the writing. I tip my hat to Oscar Isaac that he was able to work with the material as much as he did. It may just be a case of the writer, J.C. Chandor, feeling overwhelmed with the details of a period piece. The pace felt uneven. The plot seemed to slog through to get the viewer to the high tension, dramatic scenes, and then drop off.

Overall, A Most Violent Year left me wishing for a tighter rewrite and more time spent in pre-production before filming. It was an interesting idea with uneven execution

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