Movie Review: 'A Most Violent Year'

Ethics come up against urges in this epic fable of moral compromise starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain

Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) is a principled businessman struggling to adapt to the lawless terrain of 1981 in New York. Once he was a Colombian immigrant hustling to make something of himself in a city addicted to money and power; now he is the ambitious owner of a successful oil-heating business, Standard Oil, which he inherited from his wife's gangster-affiliated father.

Since then, Morales has tried to distance himself from Mafia ties and earn his fortune with a clean conscience. His sense of pride is evident in his every move. He cuts the figure of a young Al Pacino (the intense glare, the dark features) in black turtleneck sweaters, double-breasted suits and calf-length camel-hair coats. He drives a Mercedes coupé and lives in a spacious, secluded mansion with his wife, Anna (Jessica Chastain), and two children.

And when he is given the chance to speak of his principles, his word is confident: "I have always taken the path that is most right. The result is never in question for me. Just what path do you take to get there?"

But 1981 is the year that will test Morales's cherished notions of his own entrepreneurial valour and integrity, as armed thugs secretly employed by rival oil companies hijack his trucks, and the district attorney (David Oyelowo) begins to investigate price-fixing and tax evasion in the heating industry. Later, a shadowy interloper is seen lurking around his house, adding to his paranoia.

story_media_full1

A Most Violent Year is designed as an epic fable of moral compromise in the industrial age, when the business of capitalism and maintaining good fortune is a cut-throat game from which no one emerges with clean hands.

His drivers want to arm themselves for protection. His wife wants to call on her familial Mafia connections for help. For him, the decisions of business become moral and existential questions about how to stay true to one's values in spite of the mounting pressures. "I spent my whole life trying to not be a gangster," he tells his wife.

But on the other side of his defensive postures are his aggressive ones. Morales is hungry for expansion, trying to come up with the million-and-a-half dollars he needs to buy a storage dock on the East River.

story_article_left1

Isaac has an exceptional turn as Morales, bringing a range of suave appointments to the character, communicated in his composed manner, the throaty and languorous voice, and a talent for brooding, contemplative stares heavy with meaning. In one of the film's most interesting scenes, he schools his young sales reps i n the art of persuading customers to abandon their loyalties to other heating companies and buy the new product, even supplying them with the perfect duration for maintaining eye contact and whether to choose tea or coffee if offered. We are given a glimpse into Morales's contradiction , because the sales pitch is an elaborate con act in which manipulation and charm win over the client.

A Most Violent Year is a slow-moving and elegant thriller. Most of its time is spent on conversations and negotiations, but now and then the atmospheric tension will accumulate and burst, and there is a superb chase sequence later on.

The film is beautifully shot: a half-crumbling Brooklyn sprayed over with neon graffiti stands beneath golden morning light, and even the dialogue scenes are all perfectly crafted and timed. Everything looks luxurious, and the world recalls other New York thrillers, such as Serpico. In the end, Violent Year is an immersive film that excellently recreates period detail and takes its place in the tradition of other fables of ambition and violence.

Rating: 4/5 stars