A Most Violent Year

This magnificent crime drama is set in 1981 New York, where Oscar Isaac's self-made Hispanic immigrant builds up his fuel-oil business and tries to keep his integrity in a murky world

This magnificent crime drama is set in 1981 New York, where Oscar Isaac's self-made Hispanic immigrant builds up his fuel-oil business and tries to keep his integrity in a murky world.

Yet no sooner has Isaac's ambivalent hero staked the future of his business on a risky deal (buying a Brooklyn waterfront terminal) than a wave of hijackings hits his delivery tankers.

There's less violence than you would expect, given the film's title, but as Isaac seeks to come out on top while sticking to the 'right path', the scenes of moral suspense prove just as breathtaking as the episodes of physical jeopardy.

Isaac is superb and gets excellent support from Jessica Chastain, unexpectedly steely as his hard-as-nails wife, Albert Brooks, as his slyly affable lawyer, and David Oyelowo, as the shrewd assistant district attorney digging into his affairs.

Not showing on Northern Ireland or Wales.