A Most Violent Year (2014)

A Most Violent Year: Directed by J.C. Chandor. With Oscar Isaac, Elyes Gabel, Jessica Chastain, Lorna Pruce. In New York City 1981, an ambitious immigrant fights to protect his business and family during the most dangerous year in the city’s history.

“So I read a lot of complaints about the movie being slow and missing tension and violence. Why? Because of the title? Do the viewers nowadays pick their movies just on title and trailer?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe title is perfect: This movie is all about violence. Every single moment in this film is a consequence of- or triggered by violence. Even all the news broadcasts on the radio are about violence. Abelu0026#39;s business is, as he says u0026quot;in a rough patchu0026quot;. There are good years and bad years and this one is a particularly bad one. The fact that the movie doesnu0026#39;t feature a lot of violence makes it an even better one as the threat of it is constantly palpable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs for the tension: my god, what tension did I feel. I wonu0026#39;t describe moments, but one particular chase sequence had me biting my nails, and I havenu0026#39;t done that in a very long time. There is constant tension in almost every scene and almost unbearable tension in some. And of course throughout the whole film you keep asking yourself; is he that honest, will he yield, or will he even snap. Oscar Isaacu0026#39;s role as Abel is written and played out so well I can understand the comparisons to Pacinou0026#39;s Michael Corleone in the Godfather. Hell you could even mention the two films in one breath. It has a great classic feel to it, though this is much smaller and more intimate. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA modern classic like: u0026quot;We own the nightu0026quot; by James Gray or the recent u0026quot;The Dropu0026quot; by Michael R. Roskam. Beautiful slow burning masterpieces. This film will stay with me for quite a while. Iu0026#39;ll put it away, wait for a rainy day somewhere in winter and experience it all over again. 8/10”