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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 Home News Latest Stories 10 things to know for Friday They got algorithm Posters about missing teen will be distributed Competition keen at first city chili cookoff Alice Hardesty shares healing memoir Education Ashland schools expand chicken pox exclusion rules Students go behind the scenes at hospital Ashland robotics team aims to build a winner AHS ranked No. 7 by Niche College debt load balloons: What could, should be done? 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Looking Up: Comet passes by the Pleiades Suzette Martinez Standring: Chance advice was eerie Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business NEWS NOW Our View: A matter of survival ... Posters about missing teen will be distributed ... Brammo bought by Polaris ... Our View: A matter of survival ... Posters about missing teen will be distributed ... Brammo bought by Polaris ... Movie review: 'A Most Violent Year' is a gritty look at oily dealings in '80s New York Comment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jan. 16, 2015 @ 12:01 am Posted Jan. 16, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News By Ed Symkus More Content Now When you’re a writer-director, you get to pull all the strings in your movie. You create the idea in your mind, then bring it to life on the screen. Writer-director J.C. Chandor now has three movies to his credit, and they all share something in common: protagonists with their backs up against the wall. In “Margin Call” a bunch of investment bankers had to face the fast-approaching fallout of the 2008 financial crisis. In “All Is Lost,” a lone sailor had to face the elements. In his newest, “A Most Violent Year,” Chandor sets his story in 1981 New York City, and the protagonist, Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) is trying to keep his struggling oil delivery company afloat, and trying even harder to secure a loan that will help the business grow, all while dealing with thieves who are hijacking his trucks, beating up his drivers, and stealing his oil. The only big strike against the film is its deceptive title, which might keep some viewers away. Yes, there’s violence in it – guns and pummelings and threats of harm – but the movie would better be described as a mystery-thriller than a movie about violence. There are definitely some shady goings-on. There’s stiff competition between rival home heating companies – all of whom are having their trucks hijacked, no one knowing by whom; the district attorney (David Oyelowo, currently starring as Martin Luther King Jr. in “Selma”), with indictments on his mind, is checking into Abel’s financial dealings as part of a city-wide cleanup of the industry; Abel’s friend and lawyer Andrew (Albert Brooks) may be hiding a few secrets about his less-than-clean past; Abel’s wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) has a few secrets and surprise abilities of her own; and his plans for expansion, involving a group of Hassidic Jews and a bank that’s thinking twice about loaning him the money he needs, are not going well. But Oscar Isaac, who was so good as frustrated folksinger Llewyn Davis in “Inside Llewyn Davis,” plays Abel as a class act. He’s a soft-spoken man, always well dressed, usually calm even when a storm is brewing around him. Chastain’s tightly wound Anna could be one of those storms, as she’s the one who keeps the company’s books in order (or maybe not in order), and she is a VERY protective mom to their children, proving that she has the guts to do anything that has to be done, even if Abel can’t. Abel’s life turns into a balancing act. He’s trying to find out who’s harming his drivers and stealing his oil, but at the same time he must assume an air of normalcy while giving pep talks to new sales recruits at the company, deal with the fact that his drivers want to carry guns as protection, keep the d.a. at bay (hmm, is Abel’s oil business as clean as he says it is, or does he have secrets, too?), make sure his wife doesn’t go flying off the handle, and figure out what to do when his expected loan starts to go south just a couple of days before his expansion deal is supposed to happen. Isaac nicely imbues the role with a combination of the calmness from the early parts of the film and the quiet desperation that eventually sets in. Writer-director Chandor adds some excitement to it all by inserting an unexpected dose of excitement in the shape of a terrific car-truck-foot-subway chase. That’s where, even though the film remains a mystery right through to the end, the thriller element comes in, fitting comfortably, making the film even better. Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR Written and directed by J.C. Chandor With Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, Albert Brooks, David Oyelowo Rated R DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jan. 16, 2015 @ 12:01 am » 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. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs 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. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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