Fans have fallen in love with Oscar Isaac in blockbuster franchises like Star Wars and Dune, but the versatile actor turned in one of his best performances in an underrated A24 gangster film from 2014. In A Most Violent Year, the leading man plays an ambitious immigrant who clings to his moral compass while breaking into a mob-infested industry. This dark, harrowing drama is a hidden gem of the gangster genre — and there could be sequels in the future.
J.C. Chandor’s name may be familiar to MCU fans for his recent Kraven the Hunter movie, but he previously made award-winning dramas like A Most Violent Year. This gangster film is a masterpiece of simmering tension and moral turmoil that foregoes gory gunfights in favor of blistering suspense and intrigue. If rumors from Oscar Isaac’s costar Jessica Chastain prove true, the story may expand into a trilogy.
This Gritty Gangster Drama Is One of Oscar Isaac’s Best Roles
In A Most Violent Year, Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) tells his employees, “You will never do anything as hard as staring someone straight in the eye and telling the truth.” He intends to run his business with dignity and a clean conscience, but this proves to be impossible when the forces of industry corruption come to bear. As his company and his family are threatened, Abel is forced to compromise his principles.
A Most Violent Year costars Christopher Abbott, who plays the Foreigner in J.C. Chandor’s Kraven the Hunter.
Abel Morales has entered the highly competitive heating oil industry during the harsh winter of 1981 — then the most violent year for New York City. As he struggles to close on a property that will cement his power in the market, his drivers and salesmen are brutally assaulted; his home is violated; and his Teamster contacts, his attorney (Albert Brooks), and even his wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) beg him to choose violence.
A Most Violent Year depicts a man naively attempting to distance himself from his brutal environment by adopting the pose of legitimacy and a suburban lifestyle. However, as J.C. Chandor told Indie Wire, the world isn’t changed by those who ignore its problems.
(The Moraleses are) trying to sort of deny…the crime and fear in New York in 1981…they’re trying to remove themselves from the reality of the day. …(But) you can’t cut yourself off of the reality of this violent culture out there in the world they’re trying to do business in.
Even eleven years on, A Most Violent Year is an engrossing, gorgeously shot, and complex drama that is an absolute must for fans of gangster cinema.
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Jessica Chastain Says A Most Violent Year Could Receive Sequels
A Most Violent Year is a lean, efficient allegory for the nightmarish compromises required to achieve the American dream. It can feel like if it were any longer, the relentless film would become unbearable. However, its leading lady has teased the possibility of a trilogy — and so far, no one has denied it.
After tweeting about a potential sequel to A Most Violent Year in 2020, Jessica Chastain told Entertainment Weekly’s Awardist podcast that she was anxiously awaiting a script from filmmaker J.C.Chandor.
It’s a story about capitalism using this family, [it’s] the American story. …when I first met with (J.C. Chandor), he pitched me this whole idea, and I think it’s amazing, so I’m waiting. I’m just waiting to get a script.
Speaking in 2023, the actress speculated that follow-up films could explore the complexities of her character Anna Morales. There may be much more to say about Anna, who proves that she has more foresight, and perhaps greater survival instincts than her husband. In any case, a Godfather-like trilogy is a tantalizing prospect for fans who were blown away by the chilly intensity of A Most Violent Year.
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