A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

With only his third film J.C. Chandor has taken on the mantle of Sidney Lumet and has done him proud. "A Most Violent Year" is an incredibly tense, gripping drama, (I hesitate to call it a thriller per se), set in New York in 1981, reputedly the most violent year in the city's history and around the time Lumet was making films like "Prince of the City" and "The Verdict". Like these, "A Most Violent Year" depends, not on action, extreme violence or sex but on a good story, a brilliant script, intelligent direction and a host of superb performances.

Oscar Isaac, (getting better with every film), is Abel Morales, owner of his own oil company and in the throes of a deal that will greatly expand his empire, who finds he is also the subject of a number of hi-jackings of this trucks, possibly organized by his competitors. Abel is a good, decent man who doesn't want to dirty his hands even though both he and his company are being investigated by District Attorney David Oyelowo. His wife, on the other hand, isn't so squeamish, whether it's in fiddling the books or shooting an injured deer. She's played, terrifically, by Jessica Chastain in an Oscar-worthy performance, (she didn't even manage a nomination), and her presence on screen suggests this film may go down some very dark streets indeed.

Of course, if Chandor keeps making films like this he isn't going to wow the Academy, (though he did wow the National Board of Review who chose it as the years best picture), or bring in the big bucks not because "A Most Violent Year" is below par, (it isn't; it's easily one of the best pictures of last year), but because he makes the kind of intelligent pictures about subjects other directors tend to shy away from, (the financial fall-out in "Margin Call"; a one-man show and set in the middle of the Ocean in "All is Lost"). He's also proved himself a great director of actors and a writer of uncommon intelligence. The fact that this film failed to pick up a single Oscar nomination speaks volumes about the Academy's tunnel-vision. Seek it out, it's superb.