A Most Violent Year (2014) by J. C. Chandor Movie Review

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac star in this slow-burning but impeccable crime thriller.

Abel Morales (Isaac) owns a fuel distribution company in 1980s New York. His competitors are violent and corrupt, and the feds are after him. The temptation to resort to unlawful methods is high, especially that his wife (Chastain) is the daughter of a mobster.

A Most Violent Year is about how this temptation of corruption unfolds and whether Abel will surrender to it or not.

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Jenna

So pitch perfect - I can't remember the last time I saw a movie like this carried so smoothly forward hitched to a single, quietly phenomenal performance. Winter's Bone, maybe? That look, conveyed in that brief nod, as he was negotiating his way through yet another crisis at the end. What's the line? "The hardest thing you'll ever do is look someone in the eye and tell them the truth." Just amazing. 2 people liked this review.