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A Most Violent Year

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A Most Violent Year

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Summary

Crime thriller starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. New York City, 1981: upright entrepreneur Abel Morales is about to propel his heating oil business into the big time by buying a stretch of Brooklyn waterfront. However, his plans start to crumble as he comes under pressure from a crusading DA, ruthless local competitors and the demands of his Mob-princess wife.

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Jeremy Aspinall

The struggle for survival is at the heart of director JC Chandor's movies - a bank during the financial meltdown in Margin Call; Robert Redford's stranded yachtsman in All Is Lost - and this seductive slow-burner is no different. Set in 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in New York's history, it follows ice-cool immigrant entrepreneur Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) as he attempts to seal the deal that will make him a fortune. However, with only a month to clinch it, Morales's dreams of expanding his heating-oil business are threatened by disparate forces - a criminal investigation; random attacks on his trucks; vacillating bank managers; and a volatile, no-nonsense wife (Jessica Chastain). This gripping drama recalls The Long Good Friday - also set in the get-rich-quick years of the early 80s - but unlike Bob Hoskins's brutal gang boss, Morales is an honest, nice guy "taking the path most right". Following his fabulous turn in Inside Llewyn Davis, Isaac gives another magnetic performance - like a young Al Pacino in looks and simmering intensity - while Chastain sinks her teeth into the juicy role of his hard-boiled Brooklyn spouse. It's a tense, subtly evocative Big Apple tale that could see Chandor take over Sidney Lumet's mantle as the quintessential New York director.

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6.9/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameAbel MoralesOscar IsaacAnna MoralesJessica ChastainLawrenceDavid OyelowoPeter ForenteAlessandro NivolaAndrew WalshAlbert BrooksJulianElyes GabelLuisaCatalina Sandino MorenoBill O'LearyPeter GeretyLouis ServidioChristopher AbbottLangeAshley Williams

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Crew

rolenameDirectorJ C Chandor

Details

Theatrical distributor

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Released on

2015-01-23

Languages

English | Spanish

Guidance

Violence, swearing

Available on

DVD and Blu-ray

Formats

Colour

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