A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

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A MOST VIOLENT YEAR is a bad film that could've been iconic - a movie so steeped in cinema heritage that it slides into pastiche - a movie that reaches for greatness but trips over its own shoelaces in a final act that had the audience laughing at it rather than being awed by it. 

All of which is a great shame because the writer-director of the film, J C Chandor, is a great director.  His film MARGIN CALL remains the most powerful and understated examination of how Wall Street really works that I've ever seen.  ALL IS LOST pitted Robert Redford against the elements and in doing so created something like a profound exploration of character and worth.  These films had a style and a set of concerns that were new and unique to J C Chandor.  They felt authentic and urgent.  By contrast, A MOST VIOLENT YEAR seems like a slow and lingering meditation on an earlier time, both in New York history and in cinema history.

ALL IS LOST

ALL IS LOST is a movie that I admired but did not enjoy. It's a high concept film from the director that brought us arguably the only authentic description of financial services in MARGIN CALL, J.C. Chandor. In this film we are awoken in a small young crewed by Robert Redford. It has crashed into a shipping container tearing a hole in its side. He is evidently an experienced sailor and doesn't panic.  He patches up the hole and continues on his way.  But soon a giant storm arrives and he's forced to abandon ship and into a lifeboat. Even then he doesn't panic although his situation becomes more grave. For the entire duration of the movie he is alone and we are alone with him, never more than a short distance away.  The loneliness is suffocating and we suffer far more than he appears to.

The trick of all this working, if indeed it does work for you, is the immersive sound-scape, the beautiful seascape cinematography and the sheer charisma of Robert Redford. Sadly I found it a rather tedious watch - I admired the existential simplicity and the bold concept - but just couldn't get engaged in a film where the lone protagonist does so little to involve me in his emotional journey.

ALL IS LOST has a running time of 106 minutes and is rated PG-13.  The movie played Cannes, Telluride & London last year and was released in the USA, Greece, South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, France, Israel, the UK and Ireland last year. It goes on release in January in Germany & the Netherlands, in February in the Phillippines, Argentina, Italy, Portugal, Finland, india, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Estonia and Norway. It opens in March in Denmark, Brazil and Japan.