I wanted to see more of Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game, The Martian) and Oscar Isaac (Annihilation, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) since seeing them in a few movies lately, so I chose A Most Violent Year. They starred as husband and wife who are trying to grow their business in 1981 New York while facing challenges from criminals, gangsters, and the law. Isaac plays the more law abiding citizen who tries to resist resorting to extreme (violent) measures in order to protect his company while Chastain is more ready, willing, and able to do so having come from a family with a questionable past. A number of characters reference their fathers in the film, perhaps adding to the theme of the film about the choice that the next generation has to make about how to handle problems. Filmed primarily in New York, I enjoyed the choice of angles for most of the shots, especially when they aren’t afraid to let a camera keep rolling with a character walking out of the frame. The tension built around the threat of violence makes me feel uncomfortable for the poor souls having to deal with worrying about if they will be shot at work today. The film made some clever cuts implying more scenery was there than there actually was and I really liked the graffiti on the walls, (some of which was added digitally and period-specific from actual artists of the time). Writer/director J.C. Chandor previously made All Is Lost with Robert Redford and is next making Triple Frontier with Mark Wahlberg. Oscar Isaac appeared in this film between The Two Faces of January and Ex Machina, Jessica Chastain between Interstellar and The Martian. Also appearing in both A Most Violent Year and Interstellar was David Oyelowo who would next play Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma. The Blu-ray comes with a number of extras including a commentary, deleted scenes, and 3 featurettes.

A Most Violent Year

IMDB

2014, 14A, 2h 5m