J.C. Chandor is a filmmaker who has been immediately met with acclaim. His debut film Margin Call was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, a citation that I don't think was deserved, and his followup All Is Lost is well crafted with an excellent performance from Robert Redford, if lacking in a few areas. A Most Violent Year is the first film of his I can fully get on board with. I love films like these and there's been an abundance of films about ambition, the American dream, success and failure and what that all means to the ego and the country. Such as Whiplash, Nightcrawler and Foxcatcher, A Most Violent Year is one of the year's best, and just as dark and thoughtful as those. It's probably the most sensitive of the lot. What makes it work is that it doesn't immediately dip toes into crime. Instead, it relies on chaotic probability, power struggles and inherent cynicism in a capitalist world.

It's an incredibly organic film in the way it unravels. Characters aren't looking for trouble, but it finds them, and the way they deal with it ring absolutely true. Even so, Chandor still has elegantly crafted sequences that sum up its themes in poetic metaphors without being too heavy handed. Oscar Isaac is terrific, exemplifying the nuances that made Inside Llewyn Davis such a treat. He's especially great in the second half where he's faced with the biggest dilemmas. We have a real rising star on our hands. An actress who's still sizzling at the top, Jessica Chastain steals the show, toeing lines between rational and irrational and having electric chemistry with the rest of the cast. Coupled with expertly atmospheric cinematography from Bradford Young and a disconcerting score from Alex Ebert, including a masterpiece final track that finishes the narrative with dynamite ironic twists, A Most Violent Year is one of 2014's most complete packages.

8/10