A Most Violent Year is a unique gangster crime story about an immigrant businessman (Oscar Isaac) who struggles to abide by the law, while trying to protect his family and company against his rivals and a D.A. who wants to take him down. The film stars Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, and Albert Brooks.
I know by the description of the film, it may seem like a stereotypical gangster film where the main character kills his way to the top to become a godfather type, but I assure you, it’s not. This film tells a unique story of an entrepreneur during one of New York’s most violent years in history, 1981. Hence the name of the film. This film doesn’t have a bunch of brutal murders and a constant drop of the f-bomb which made other gangster crime films famous, but it didn’t need it. Though there is some pretty violent scenes in the film. One would think that there would have to be, right?
The bonus features include a few behind-the-scenes featurettes, outtakes, some deleted scenes and a PSA. The featurettes, which include interviews with the cast and crew, were very in-depth. If there were any questions you had about the film, they were all answered in these featurettes. I felt that the featurettes were very well done as was the film. It was almost if the producers, editors and director took as much time making the featurettes as they did to make the film. The work really showed.
I thought the film had great acting and it was a fresh take on a gangster crime story. The bonus features were very informative and explored the darker side of one of the biggest cities in America. The featurettes served this Blu-ray release very well and could have been a separate full-length documentary.
The winner for best Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review, A Most Violent Year is coming to DVD and Blu-ray April 7.