Free to Air 9th October
A Most Violent year, written & directed by JC Chandor (Margin Call, All is Lost) is a character study set in New York in the year 1981. It is not a violent film, at least not by modern film standards, the violence of the era is a character in itself, it's experienced viscerally by both the viewer and the characters.
Oscar Isaac's plays Abel. Abel is determined to stick to his morals, although it's not always clear if those are pure. His struggle, and those of the ensemble cast represent all that is good and bad with capitalism. The winners and the losers must always pay a price.
For the look of the film Chandor was inspired by 1970's street photography and fortunately for us, collaborated with the supremely talented Bradford Young, to emulate that feeling.
For the cherry on top Alex Ebert (of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's fame) adds in some hypnotic arpeggio synths.
To accompany the release of the film, A24 commissioned this excellent short documentary about New York at the height of the 1980’s crime wave. Directed by Austin Peters and shot (on 16mm) by Eric K. Yue
A Most Violent year is free to air on SBS (or streaming on Netflix if you can’t deal with the ads).
Bon Ap
