Yet another mysterious indie film... Hey, cool people don’t need to know what these
movies are about. You’re watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of A Most Violent Year...
In the collecting world, blind boxes have become pretty popular. That’s where you buy a box
not knowing what’s in it, trusting in the overall brand that you’re bound to like
whatever you get. And blind boxes seem to have become popular in the indie film circuit
as well, with ad campaigns hoping to sell audiences - and awards voters - on the prestige
of a film alone. Christopher Nolan even tried to use this tactic with Interstellar, but
with less than stellar results. So, what do we know about THIS blind box? Well, it’s
from A24 Films, the hip new distribution company that picked up the film rights for A Most
Violent Year while it was in production. Unlike other studios, A24 has worked hard to build
its own brand, specializing primarily in youth-centric films like Under the Skin, Obvious Child,
The Spectacular Now, Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring. That makes the older-skewing A
Most Violent Year a bit of a departure for them, and therefore a riskier blind box? Then
there’s writer, director and producer JC Chandor, a fast rising star in Hollywood.
This is only the third film for the long-time commercials director - and his first two,
Margin Call and All Is Lost, showed surprising awards traction. Are you willing to bet your
time and hard earned money that A Most Violent Year will continue the trend? As for the talent,
there’s Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac - who studied acting together at Juilliard.
Isaac might spark some fanboy interest as he’s in the upcoming Star Wars Episode 7
and plays Apocalypse in the 2016 X-Men movie. Yet Chastain has yet to move beyond her status
as a critical darling, and even that seems in jeopardy after the lukewarm reception for
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, which she also produced. But there’s also David
Oyelowo, who seems to be on the verge of making it big with Selma, the Martin Luther King
Jr bio produced by Oprah Winfrey hitting theaters at about the same time as A Most Violent Year.
Finally, all we know about the story is that it’s another look at the professional and
personal life of the criminal element, ala The Godfather, Scarface, Goodfellas, etc,
etc. Oh, and 1981 was one of the most violent years ever in New York City - for realz. How’s
that for a hook? Let’s find out, as we open this blind box and see what we got...