A Most Violent Year centers on Abel Morales, the owner of a small heating oil company who is stressed by the competitiveness in the oil trade and having to secure costly loans to expand his business. Then the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag him in and threaten to destroy all he has built.
Like that camel-hair coat Abel wears, A Most Violent Year is classy and commands respect, but a stronger pulse under the lapels would make us care much more.
Though possibly lacking a little bang bang for your buck, A Most Violent Year represents an absorbing, thoughtful and successful attempt to subvert the usual grisly gangster-chic stereotypes.
A Most Violent Year is a fascinating, intense, character-driven drama, which not only transports you to the state of mind of NYC in the 1980's, but will also show you just how entertaining simplicity can be.
Chandor follows the psychologically penetrating tradition of Sidney Lumet, Alan Pakula and Francis Ford Coppola, observing crime as a microcosm of society.
Instead of directing a movie that screams "HEY, IT'S THE '80S," he made one that looks, sounds, and feels like a refugee from that era, and lets the audience do the rest.
