A most violent year

Oscar Isaac is determined to achieve the American dream or die tryin 'in this tense crime drama New York

The problems of an independent fuel company may seem small potatoes. But they mean much to Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) in a most violent year, located in the cold of winter 1981 New York, where the crime infiltrated everything, bed boardroom. Abel, an immigrant to live the American dream, wants to play legitimate things. But his competitors will not let him. They know that he has 30 days to repay a loan on a beachfront storage facility. They know he panicked someone hijacking his truck and beat on its drivers. In addition, the DA (David Oyelowo) is on its ass. Abel, who wears a costume camel coat and bought a new house for wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) and their daughters, is pressed - hard. Tension coiled and ready to pounce.

This is the setting for this gripping third feature of writer-director JC Chandor (Margin Call, all is lost). Here Chandor walking cobbled streets mean by Sidney Lumet (Prince of the City) and James Gray (The Yards). The action - a shooting on a bridge, a chase on an elevated train - is aces. But Chandor marks its territory with a more meditative pace. Abel tried to compromise by his lawyer (a superb Albert Brooks). But violence comes from Anna, the daughter Mob reacts as she is.

Chastain is a good killer, shooting out of his mouth like a bomb Brooklyn: "You will not like what happens when I get involved." And Isaac is a central implosive. Chandor giving him the space to develop psychological torment that affect devilishly. Evocative pulled by the assistant Selma Bradford Young, A most violent year reflects a world where nothing is held sacred. You look tense with nerves, holding tight.