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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

HBO should adapt ‘A Most Violent Year’

Dan Webster

I'm still amazed at how many filmmakers try to stuff long narratives into standard mainstream-movie running times. Recent examples include "Unbroken," "The Imitation Game" and "The Theory of Everything." All too often the stories feels truncated. And as if to compensate for this, the directors (not to mention screenwriters) focus on particular concepts that may, or may not, authentically capture the story — especially when the stories are based on actual events.

The recent release "A Most Violent Year" is a work of fiction. But in the movie review that I wrote for Spokane Public Radio, I argue that the story that writer-director J.C. Chandor dreamed up might have worked better if he had sold it as a television miniseries. Anyway, following is my review:  

Time was, movies were king. Even when it came along some half century later, television – until the last couple of decades, at least – acted mostly like the idiot pretender to the throne.

As anyone boasting half a feel for quality has noticed, though, that situation has changed. With cable channels such as HBO, Showtime, Starz! and FX – and more recently even Netflix – providing original material, the best of TV has drawn even, maybe even has surpassed, the best theatrical releases.

The latest bit of evidence: writer-director J.C. Chandor’s “A Most Violent Year.” Set in the New York of 1981, Chandor’s film tells the story of Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), a businessman of Hispanic ethnicity who is attempting to force his way into the regional fuel market. From everything we can see, Abel is an honorable man. Yet he lives in a dishonorable world.

Chandor’s movie begins innocently enough, with one of Abel’s fuel-truck drivers working his delivery route. Then, with a suddenness that is as shocking as it is violent, the truck is hijacked. And that single act sets the stage: While Abel dresses as if he has an MBA, and preaches a business philosophy that is part Dr. Phil, part “Glengarry Glenn Ross,” he is clearly swimming among sharks. And the question becomes: Is Abel tough enough to keep from being eaten?

Most everyone he encounters seems to wonder this, including his drivers, especially the hijacked one, Julian, who sees Abel as a mentor. His lawyer (Albert Brooks) does. His wife, Anna (Jessica Chastain), continually does. Only Abel’s competitors, including the seemingly friendly Peter (Alessandro Nivola), do not – mostly because, as they make abundantly clear, they’re certain that tough is one thing Abel isn’t.

Smooth, yes. Even lucky. But tough? No.And so the pressure comes to bear. As Abel tries to close on a deal for an ideal river-side storage facility, his trucks keep getting hit, an ambitious local prosecutor (David Oyelowo) threatens him with criminal charges, his bank suddenly questions Abel’s business plan, and someone even sends a thug to his house with a loaded pistol.

One way to see “A Most Violent Year” is as a blend of, say, “The Godfather” and “The Sopranos.” It’s as if Abel is the early Michael Corleone, the naïve youngest son who wants no part of his father’s world – until forces unite to pull him in. And that’s what Chandor’s film explores: Where is the line between business and criminality, and what would cause an essentially good man to step over it?

In the end, though, that’s where “A Most Violent Year” falls short. Yes, Isaac, so good in “Inside Llewyn Davis,” is equally good here. Chastain shows even more pluck than she displayed in “Zero Dark Thirty.” And despite feeling a shade too murky, Bradford Young’s cinematography carries a sense of late-’70s grit. Yet the ending Chandor gives us feels incomplete – as if it were only the pilot of a potential HBO miniseries.

One, I have to add, that’s missing a decent cliff-hangar.