By El Boocho
4.0
J.C Candor’s ‘A Most Violent Year’ is set in New York in the year
1981. Statistically, it was New York City’s most crime ridden year.
The film centres on Abel (Oscar Isaac), an immigrant who starts
up a home oil business with his wife Anna. However, when his
trucks begin to get hijacked on the freeway the NYPD start to
investigate his affairs. Believing in the American Dream, Abel is
passionate about his business and his family. His wife (Jessica
Chastain) celebrates all of his successes but is equally demeaning
when things begin to awry. She is frighteningly manipulative to a
Shakespearean degree; attacking his manhood and demanding he
do everything necessary to protect his family. As things unravel
Abel sees that everything is crumbling around him and goes to
great lengths to protect everything close to him.
The atmosphere of the movie is reminiscent of Coppola’s The
Godfather. Oscar Isaac gives a Michael Corleone like performance
of a man attempting to retain his honor in a city rife with political
and economic corruption. Jessica Chastain is cunning and fierce
as she effortlessly goes from loving wife and mother to the
frighteningly persuasive enforcer of Abel’s decisions. Their scenes
together are a fascinatin