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a most violent year dvd cover
a most violent year dvd cover

A Most Violent Year

directed by J.C. Chandor

(R, 125 minutes)

In a corrupt world of rascals, thugs and cheats, how is the honest man to make it? J.C. Chandor's stunning third film, the period drama A Most Violent Year, answers that question pragmatically: A man does what he has to do.

And what Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) has to do is raise a lot of money in a short amount of time by any means necessary. An elegantly dressed and coiffed immigrant who in 1981 (a crime-ridden and dangerous time in New York) has risen from poverty to own a Long Island heating oil distribution business, Abel puts down a cash deposit to buy an old factory adjacent to his warehouse. The purchase will offer him river access and storage capacity, giving his company an edge in a highly competitive business.

It's a prudent decision, except for the terms. He's buying the parcel from some Hasidim, who were only persuaded to sell by the very advantageous terms Abel has offered. The 40 percent he puts down represents most of his life savings. If he doesn't deliver the remaining 60 percent within 30 days, the property will revert to the old owners, who will also keep his deposit. Abel is not worried. He has a reliable banker and, just before the deal goes down, his lawyer (Albert Brooks) tells him he has a good feeling about the transaction.

But because of mobsters, unions, hijackers, an ambitious district attorney nosing around in the heating oil business, and family concerns -- his fiery wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) is the daughter of a Brooklyn gangster -- things don't go as planned.

All the performances are in key, but a couple stand out: Elyes Gabel plays a truck driver who worships Abel even as he ultimately fails him; Catalina Sandino Moreno is mesmerizing in a single Spanish-language scene; Alessandro Nivola shows up as a genial second-generation Mafioso and business rival who offers Abel some common-sense advice. Some might feel that Chastain has too little to do here, but she makes what might have been the movie's only stock character brim with danger and loyalty.

Abel is neither cop nor crook; he's a compromised man with problems to solve. As he did in Inside Llewyn Davis, Isaac works as much with pauses and deflection as he does with dialogue. There's a fierce pride shining in his character's eyes, but this American dreamer is determined to color within the lines.

The Immigrant (R, 120 minutes) A beautifully photographed, overly theatrical tragi-drama in which fragile and innocent Ewa Cybulski (Marion Cotillard) and her sister Magda (Angela Sarafyan) sail from their home in Poland in 1921 to New York in search of the American dream. Arriving at Ellis Island, they're separated when Magda is found to have tuberculosis and is quarantined and Ewa is left on her own in the mean streets of Manhattan. That's where she meets exploitative Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix) and his good-hearted cousin Emil (Jeremy Renner). Things get complicated before taking a turn for the worse. With Yelena Solovey, Dagmara Dominczyk; directed by James Gray.

Happy Valley (not rated, 98 minutes) This thought-provoking documentary by Amir Bar-Lev, which allows the audience to draw its own conclusions, focuses on Penn State University's revered football program under the four-decade direction of Joe Paterno after assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of child sex abuse in 2011.

After the Sunset (PG-13, 100 minutes) Nothing original or exceptional here, but there's plenty of fun in the story of attractive thieves Max (Pierce Brosnan) and Lola (Salma Hayek), who are enjoying the fruits of their labors in the tropical beauty of Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Then they find their post-criminal lives disrupted by the appearance of their longtime FBI nemesis Stan (Woody Harrelson), who suspects them of plotting a major diamond heist. Even if they weren't, the idea turns out to have great appeal to them. With Chris Penn, Naomie Harris; directed by Brett Ratner.

MovieStyle on 04/10/2015

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