Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac have been at the top of their game since the beginning.
The Big Picture
- Oscar Isaac is compelling as an unconventional mob boss striving for success in the violent 1981 New York oil industry.
- Jessica Chastain delivers one of her best performances, which is enhanced by her chemistry with Isaac.
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A Most Violent Year
stands out from typical gangster movies with its focus on morality and resisting the violent nature of the business.
Nearly ten years after its release, one A24 crime drama still manages to hold its own in a media landscape bloated with gangster tales. A Most Violent Year, written and directed by J.C. Chandor, utilizes its unsettlingly cold and quiet 1960s New York setting to offer a unique take on the genre. There’s no denying Oscar Isaac‘s vast range and versatility, and his turn as the film’s emerging mob leader is a shining example of exactly that. With Isaac at the helm as trucking company boss Abel Morales, A Most Violent Year pits business competitors against one another in a battle for territory and resources in the swiftly expanding New York oil industry. As the title implies, the conflict gets incredibly violent, marred with hijackings, shootouts, and corrupt dealings.
At the epicenter are Abel and his wife, Anna (Jessica Chastain), who must grapple with whether to retain perceived dignity or achieve assured success by giving in to the violent nature of the business. Isaac is fully committed to the air of a reluctant, steadfast gangster. Chastain bolsters every moment she touches with, arguably, one of her best performances. The film’s rewatchability is off the charts for the two of them alone, but the gripping story of A Most Violent Year is an excellent bonus.
A Most Violent Year
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.
- Release Date
- December 30, 2014
- Director
- J.C. Chandor
- Cast
- Oscar Isaac , Jessica Chastain , David Oyelowo , Alessandro Nivola , Albert Brooks , Elyes Gabel
- Runtime
- 125 minutes
What Is ‘A Most Violent Year’ About?
Abel Morales (Isaac) runs Standard Heating Oil Company, and he’s looking to expand. It’s a tough market, though, and not just because money is a difficult game to play. The industry is rife with violence, and it grows worse every day. The established companies in New York have fought long and hard for their territories, so any newcomer inching into their zones is asking to be met with aggressive resistance. Abel’s employees, the men driving his trucks and the sales reps acquiring the competitor’s customers, are falling victim to hijackings, theft, and brutal beatings.
To make the burden heavier, Assistant District Attorney Lawrence (David Oyelowo) is digging deep into Abel’s company, searching for any indication of criminality. Anna Morales (Chastain) runs the books, and their lawyer (Andrew Walsh, played with the unfaltering charisma of Albert Brooks) aids the power couple in navigating the treacherous waters of the business. With the Teamsters Union breathing down his neck to protect the workers and the bank growing cold feet in their financial support, Abel strives to conquer the fear of failure, while staying above the pull of violence and crime.
Oscar Isaac Plays a Different Kind of Mob Boss in ‘A Most Violent Year’
Honor, dignity, establishing a legacy worthy of pride — there’s no disillusion when it comes to Abel’s priorities. Other than the love for his wife and daughters, nothing matters more to Abel than his specific version of success. He admits failure is his greatest fear, but for Abel, there’s a right way and a wrong way to overcome failure. His morality, or at least his perception of it, sets Abel apart from the typical mob boss. It’s almost as if the mob boss moniker is entirely accidental, as though the world deemed him as such without consent. His wife, however, bears a closer connection to the crime world through her father and brother, and despite Anna’s more lax feelings toward potential (sometimes necessary, in her eyes) depravity, Abel insists on taking as clean of a road as they can.
Jessica Chastain & Oscar Isaac’s Chemistry Is From Real-Life Friendship
Although it may seem like the foremost goal of acting as a romantically entwined couple, something to be accomplished before anything else, it’s no easy task. What enriches the two main performances and the overall movie is how Chastain and Isaac make it feel effortless. The two studied at Julliard together and have continued their friendship ever since. They recognize how their off-screen friendship has effectively informed their on-screen chemistry. “We went to college together, so we’ve been friends more than half of our lives,” Chastain revealed in an interview with Today. “We know so much about each other, so we know how to make each other laugh without even saying anything. We can almost read each other’s minds. It also means we could hurt each other really strongly. In the scenes, we would know how to get to the other one.”
Oscar Isaac Shot Two of His Best Movies at the Same Time
Oscar Isaac is just as cool as he is terrifying.
Speaking with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, the two were graciously frank about the ease they felt portraying A Most Violent Year‘s formidable couple together. “You have to be respectful of other people’s processes,” Isaac said. “You have to be careful how you operate. With Jessica, with each other, we don’t have to be careful, because we’ve known each other for such a long time. We work in a similar way, and so it just allowed us to get through a lot of the bulls**** and just be able to really talk honestly and openly with each other, and get work done.”
Their ability to understand one another without words (like reading each other’s minds, as Chastain put it) crossed over to Abel and Anna in a palpable fashion. As they navigate risky deals, all while keeping their marriage and family afloat, they seem able to exchange directives and reach mutual understanding through a simple glance or an adjustment in their tone. When others are in the room, especially if those others aren’t their cohorts, you never doubt that Abel and Anna are one united team.
‘A Most Violent Year’ Isn’t Like Other Gangster Movies
Abel Morales doesn’t want to be a gangster. Many of the best gangster movies are still presentations of two or more sides wielding similar forms of violence against one another. There’s not always a moral high ground, but A Most Violent Year tells the journey of a man who so desperately wants to find it. With so much of the film centered on a man determined to keep his hands clean, there’s a level of tragic irony in the certainty of becoming tainted by the cut-throat nature of the business. More than once, Abel harps on the days before the trade became a violent line of work. He’d often murmur about those days before the necessity of violence, visibly pining for simpler times.
Despite his resistance, the nature of the business will continue to change. Sneakily, beneath the surface, the world Abel inhabits is evolving away from violence through weapons and physical intimidation. All this time, his tango with the Assistant District Attorney was more than a frustrating hurdle to overcome; it was a warning about how the game must soon be played. Even after his victories, Abel’s future is shadowed by the inevitability of succumbing to the political murk ahead.
A Most Violent Year is available to watch on Max in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com