A Most Violent Year

The lead first went to Javier Bardem, who left over creative differences, and J.C. Chandor handed the part to Oscar Isaac shortly before the shoot. Jessica Chastain had joined months earlier, to play opposite Bardem. Alex Ebert’s score leans on synthesisers; he has said he thought of Miami Vice and Scarface while looking for the sound of the 1981 winter. The violence is not kept off screen. In passing it 15, the BBFC listed pistol whipping and punching, a character putting a pistol barrel under his own chin and pulling the trigger, one use of the strongest language and more than 30 uses of strong language. It opened the 28th AFI Fest, then went out in the United States on the last day of the year in only 4 theatres, widening the following month. The National Board of Review handed it three prizes that season: best film, best actor for Isaac in a tie with Michael Keaton for Birdman, and best supporting actress for Chastain. The Academy nominated it in no category that year. A good fit if you want Abel’s closing claim that he always took the most right path to land right after he buys the terminal with money his wife had skimmed for years. Not for viewers waiting for the hijackings to be settled by force.