THE RESULT IS NEVER IN QUESTION, JUST THE PATH YOU TAKE TO GET THERE.
In 1981, New York City businessman Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) is trying to handle a new threat against his company – someone is organizing hijackings of his heating-oil trucks. A portrait of a world that isn’t necessarily criminal in nature, but constantly has to consider that prospect. Isaac is very good as the heart of the film, a man who must do what’s necessary to save the business and protect his family, but can it be done without crossing a line? He’s ably supported by Jessica Chastain as Abel’s wife who pushes him to become more aggressive. Sad and slow, with a discreet electronic score, the film is engrossing and unpredictable.Â
2014-U.S. 125 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by J.C. Chandor, Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb. Written and directed by J.C. Chandor. Music: Alex Ebert. Cast: Oscar Isaac (Abel Morales), Jessica Chastain (Anna Morales), Alessandro Nivola (Peter Forente), David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks, Catalina Sandino Moreno.
Trivia: Javier Bardem was originally cast as Abel, but dropped out; Charlize Theron was allegedly considered for Chastain’s part.
Last word: “This movie’s obviously structured like an old 1930s gangster film. You’ve got the femme fatale sort of brushing her hair in the opening scene and the Jewish money lender. I’m hitting these sort of sign posts that are very classic kind of almost genre elements, but obviously, the hope is that the film is doing something that’s very different than that, that you’re getting that same journey you might from one of those films, from a rollercoaster element, that it still is giving you the thrills and the highs and the lows, but that it’s actually about something that is really a dissection of that, and trying to equate what our relationship with violence is and what escalation is.” (Chandor, Coming Soon)
