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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Jeffrey Gillespie: Dems contemplate Biden time ... Our View: Taking the plunge ... The Democracy Project at SOU: An Opportunity for Learning and Leadership ... Jeffrey Gillespie: Dems contemplate Biden time ... Our View: Taking the plunge ... The Democracy Project at SOU: An Opportunity for Learning and Leadership ... MOVIE REVIEW 'A Most Violent Year' is a taut, cerebral film “A Most Violent Year”is an elegant and beautifully constructed film, one in which the title is unfortunate because the violence, while implied and certainly embedded in the narrative, is never overt or gratuitous. Comment By Chris Honoré for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted Feb. 5, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 6, 2015 at 6:56 PM By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted Feb. 5, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 6, 2015 at 6:56 PM » Social News A Most Violent Year; 110 min; Rated R   “A Most Violent Year” is an elegant and beautifully constructed film, one in which the title is unfortunate because the violence, while implied and certainly embedded in the narrative, is never overt or gratuitous. The year is 1981, and New York is in the throes of a hard-edged crime wave that is felt in all corners of the city and creates a context and backdrop, contributing to the atmospherics of a taut and cerebral story.  At the film’s center are Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), a seemingly decent and impeccably dressed Colombian immigrant and his elegant but steely wife, Anna (Jessica Chastain). Together they own a home heating oil business — a stable of trucks and drivers —  based in one of the outer New York boroughs along the East River. They are in the process of acquiring a valuable piece of real estate adjoining their business and have purchased an option from a cohort of Orthodox Jews who have no use for the land or the oil tanks. Abel and Anna have 30 days to close the escrow and need an additional $1.5 million to fulfill the terms of the agreement. If they fail to close, they lose their deposit and the much-coveted property. Writer/director J.C. Chandor nicely inserts a game clock of sorts that gives the film an added tension. From the minute Abel hands the Rabbi a suitcase of cash, events begin conspiring to prevent Abel from meeting the deadline. Most disconcerting (at least at the outset) is that his heating oil trucks, filled with product and on the way to making deliveries, are being hijacked. The question is by whom? His competitors? Abel soon learns from his lawyer, Andrew Walsh (Albert Brooks), that the local D.A., intent on making his bones, is investigating the company and threatening to indict Abel and Anna for fraud and tax evasion (charges that seem constructed out of whole cloth). The coup de grace is Abel’s pre-arranged bank loan (the $1.5 million) is in jeopardy because of their legal troubles, as well as the hijackings. For Abel and Anna, they are caught in a nexus of circumstances that threaten them and their family (they have two young girls). It’s a perfect storm of existential events. Compounding their financial situation, they’ve also just bought a new, decidedly modern home in Westchester. The film is ultimately a character study of Abel and Anna, examining intently what they are and are not prepared to do to salvage their situation and what lines they will and will not cross. Abel reminds Anna that he will not become a “gangster” in order to survive in what is a bare knuckles business, one that is, historically, layered with Mob control and a take-no-prisoners attitude. “A Most Violent Year”demonstrates that a film can be a hammer but not every scene need be a nail. It is nuanced and subtle, the tone quietly chilly, the photography often soft instead of hard-edged with wide-angle shots of the Manhattan skyline and snow-covered stretches of land. “Violent,”when closely watched, is a far more interesting and complex tale when compared to, say, Martin Scorsese’s extreme “The Wolf of Wall Street” or “Goodfellas.” One film that it does borrow from, in complexity and inherent ambivalence, is “The Godfather.” To quote a line by Michael Corleone “Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in.” And so it is with Abel Morales.        By Chris Honoré for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted Feb. 5, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 6, 2015 at 6:56 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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