A Most Violent Year unfolds in the New York City of 1981. The specificity of its setting is central to the absorbing character of writer-director J. C. Chandor’s new feature. The film presents a familiar scenario: a family man’s efforts to grow his business are met with violent, ruthless opposition, forcing him to adopt ruthless tactics in turn. In this case, the embattled entrepreneur is Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), an earnest, resolute man who has carved out his own American Dream in the form of a modest heating oil delivery business. His fierce and diligent wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) keeps the books and watches his back.
In another time and place, they would be an unstoppable couple. However, A Most Violent Year takes place in an era of blackouts, airport bombings, serial killers, and municipal corruption. The Morales’ establishment ambitions seem almost quaint is such dystopian environs. The film opens with Abel sealing a deal to acquire a dilapidated oil depot, placing him in a tenuous financial position. Meanwhile, his trucks are routinely hijacked at gunpoint; Abel suspects this is the work of his less law-abiding competitors. Even as the Morales strive to keep their noses clean, a district attorney looking into their notoriously dirty industry has them in his sights.
The film’s story is a sort of inverted Carlito’s Way or Tokyo Drifter. Rather than a gangster who wants to get out of the Life, Abel is a civilian who wants to stay out. Chandor crafts a darkly irresistible tale from this concept, with much owed to captivating performances from Isaac and Chastain. By maintaining his focus on the singular contours of Abel’s morally fraught plight and on the details of his dissolute surroundings, the filmmaker transforms a gritty drama into something more brooding, hideous, and mesmerizing.
A Most Violent Year opens Friday, January 30 at the Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar, 314-727-7271).
