Addicted to Love

 

 

It's late in the evening; she's wondering what clothes to wear.
She'll put on her make-up and brushes her long brown hair.

 

Do I look all right ?

 

Yes, you look wonderful tonight !

 

And the wonder of it all
Is that you just don't realize how much I love you.

 

 

 

Cine Me

 

 

 

Suffragette

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3077214/

 

https://www.suffragettemovie.com/showtimes

 

"Suffragette," detailing the push for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom in 1911-13, has both of these problems, although it suffers more from the first. Directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan, "Suffragette" makes it look like because one (fictional) woman (Carey Mulligan) testified about her hardships to future Secretary of State for War Lloyd George, the suffrage movement experienced a depth-charge of commitment.

 

"Suffragette" feels like a documentary in its visuals, but at the same time drowns in subjectivity (Maud's face in repeated closeup). The peripheral (where the good stuff happens) is barely perceived. It's telling that the most moving passage in "Suffragette" is newsreel footage of a real event.

 

"Suffragette" includes the events known by anyone familiar with the history: hunger strikes, bombs dropped into mailboxes, the blowing up of Lloyd George's summer home. A turning point was in 1913, when Emily Wilding Davison (played in the film by Natalie Press) stepped out in front of King George's galloping horse on Derby Day, a "Votes for Women" banner in her hand, and was trampled to death. A martyr. Thousands of people lined the streets to watch the funeral procession. It's all in "Suffragette," but you keep wanting to move Maud out of the way so you can get a better view.

 

As with many movements, groups were excluded initially: working-class women, women of color, single women, and those who deviated from mainstream dogma. "Suffragette" ends with a roll of dates showing when various nations gave women the vote. In America, all women were enfranchised in 1920, but state laws and intimidation kept black women out of the voting booth in many areas until decades later. It's a glaring omission, and, again, shows an unwillingness to live in the rich complexity of reality.

Cine Me

 

 

Secret In Their Eyes

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1741273/

 

http://secretintheireyes.movie/

 

A superb supporting turn by Julia Roberts is the most welcome revelation of this clever but workmanlike English-language remake.

 

Long-buried truths are exhumed, and a foreign-language Oscar winner gets a clever but workmanlike Hollywood retooling, in “Secret in Their Eyes,” a time-shuffling tale of murder, corruption, paranoia and the many varieties of obsession. Neatly swapping in post-9/11 counterterrorism for late-’70s Argentinean political upheaval, writer-director Billy Ray’s thriller-procedural plays like a serviceable feat of narrative surgery, though it does boast one masterstroke in the reworking of a key role, played here by Julia Roberts with a piercing restraint that silences any lingering doubt that she was born to be more than just America’s sweetheart. This second major release from STX Entertainment (after the recent sleeper hit “The Gift”) should parlay its cast names, including Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor, into solid year-end counterprogramming.

As for “Secret in Their Eyes,” the movie manages to register its own identity in gradual, piecemeal fashion, even as it doesn’t deviate too dramatically from its predecessor’s narrative template. Ray reproduces some of the original film’s most memorable images and sequences wholesale, including a delicious tell-off scene in which Sloan brilliantly uses the language of sexual humiliation to force a suspect’s confession, and a lengthy zoom shot of an athletic stadium that’s as impressive as it is gimmicky. Yet while this PG-13-rated movie generally avoids the lurid violence and sexuality that crept in around the corners of Campanella’s “Secret,” the filmmaking also feels appreciably grittier and less precious — the work of a smart, no-nonsense craftsman who, as he demonstrated in his fine earlier efforts, “Breach” and “Shattered Glass,” is clearly no stranger to spinning tales of deception, rogue behavior and institutional intrigue.



 

And then there’s Roberts, who, after her impressive, Oscar-nominated turn in “August: Osage County,” continues to explore and deepen her talent for sharp, resonant character work in left-of-center roles. Looking weary and downright haggard at times (especially next to the pale and perfectly coiffed Kidman, who, it must be said, seems to age the least of the three principals), Roberts brings an acrid sense of bitterness and sorrow to this exceedingly sharp-witted sleuth, registering the cruel passage of time and the toll of unspeakable tragedy in every careworn feature and vocal quaver. “You look a million years old,” someone tells her at one point, but this is no self-conscious deglam job; it’s a skillful and humane turn from an actress whose darkly penetrating gaze comes closest to fulfilling the mystery of the title.

The night asks for music

 

 

I was waiting for you

What was I supposed to do

I longed to see the day

You would come my way

I’ve waited in vain

I started hallucinating

I saw you dancing

Right in front of me

I’m glad it’s over

I’m Happy to be free

Now I know, it meant nothing

No one will ever love you better

Will ever love you whether

Things are not that good

No one will ever love you better

Will ever love you whether

Things are not that good

No one will ever love you better

Will ever take you higher

The way I know I could

Now I know, it meant nothing

I can see you moving fast

Now I Know it meant nothing

It was never meant to last

Tell me dear

 

 

 are you lonesome tonight ?

 

 

 

 

I woke up like this

That's all you gotta do

 

 

You know she's waiting
Just anticipating
For things that she'll never, never, never, never possess, yeah yeah
But while she's there waiting, without them
Try a little tenderness

Someone like you could make me change my ways

 

 

I got up this morning and fell out of bed
Trying to make it to the door.
The wind was high, I didn't have much time,
Trying to find a man to score.

And then you came up on the other side
To brighten up my day.
I knew right away
That this could be my day.

 

I want to thank you, thank you now
For getting me back on my feet again.
 





When autumn leaves start to fall

 

 

I see your lips, the (summer) kisses

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling

 

 

 

 

Cine Me

 

 

 

 

The Intern

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361509/

 

 

http://www.theinternmovie.com/#

 

I expected a fun, neat comedy but what I experienced was so much more: a great plot, brilliantly executed and acted. The jokes and fun parts were on point, and the world the movie created felt very authentic, immersive and a joy to watch on the big screen - this was helped by amazing costuming and cinematography.

The entire cast had very strong chemistry between them, and both Hathaway and De Niro were wonderful.

Overall an awesome, heartwarming movie. I walked out of the movie theater with a smile.

 

A "nice" film. A light-hearted movie filled with smiles and laughs. Not the Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Godfather of De Niro that we're used to loving, but a pleasant and charming version. Hathaway is her lovable and charming self, and good cast of supporting characters. Academy award winner, not. Worthy of a rental.

 

 

 

Sunday Funday

Cine Me

 

 

 

Irrational Man

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3715320/

 

 

http://sonyclassics.com/irrationalman/

 

 

 

 

Maybe people are so willing to read latter-day Woody Allen movies as backhanded personal reflections on his life because it's so hard to know how to read them otherwise. Films like Whatever Works, Magic In The Moonlight, and From Rome With Love are arch but not particularly funny, and straight-faced but not particularly serious. They're packed with philosophical quotations, references, and blather, but seem to lack an actual philosophy. There's a sense that Allen isn't playing tongue-in-cheek, so much as wedging his tongue randomly and experimentally into every other cranial orifice, just to see what happens.
That mixture of self-importance and self-dismissing fluff is particularly pronounced in Allen's latest film, the grating shaggy-dog story Irrational Man. The film seems divided against itself on a fundamental level: it announces its lack of sympathies with protagonist Abe Lucas in its title, then throws all its narrative sympathy in Abe's direction. Some critics have read the movie as reflecting Allen's public fight with adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 2014, with The New York Times as forum and intermediary. Irrational Man has been read as the latest salvo in that battle, given its contemptuous view of the legal system and its focus, so familiar in Allen's films, on the overwhelming attraction younger women have for troubled older men. But while Allen's state of mind may have crept into the script, Irrational Man hardly seems clear-headed enough to serve as any sort of manifesto. It feels telling, though, that while the film's protagonist is an unrepentant, cold-blooded killer, the movie's real villain for most of its runtime is the younger woman who has a crush on him, and won't take no for an answer.

 

 

What I liked about Irrational Man, even with some of its familiarity in the Allen world - professor with a younger student romantically, questions of morality, what it means when PURE luck really defines what happens for people - is that it was genuine about how its characters saw and changed with their views on the world, and that on its own you get wrapped up in the question of "Will he really get away with this?" To be sure, this question was asked with greater intellectual rigor in Crimes & Misdemeanors, and Match Point had an even tougher, bleaker view of what it means for people to get ahead in the world no matter who stands in heir way. But all three of these movies seem to make up a trilogy - maybe we can call it his 'Dostoyevsky' series - with this one being what I should think is the capper of them. Now it's not an older businessman or a young upstart, but someone who has spent his life trying to figure out what it means to live a meaningful life in theory vs practice.


When the violets roar at the sun

 

 

They've got us in the cage
Ruined of grace and senses
And the heart roar like a lion
At what they've done to us.

 

 

 

 

Henry Charles Bukowski

 

 

 

 

The One That I Want

 

 

I got chills
They're multiplying
And I'm losing control
'Cause the power you're supplying
It's electrifying!

 

You better shape up
'Cause I need a man
And my heart is set on you
You better shape up
You better understand
To my heart I must be true
Nothing left
Nothing left for me to do

You're the one that I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey
The one that I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey
The one that I want
Oo-oo-oo, the one I need
Oh, yes, indeed

If you're filled
With affection
You're too shy to convey
Meditate in my direction
Feel your way

I better shape up
'Cause you need a man
I need a man
Who can keep me satisfied
I better shape up
If I'm gonna prove
You better prove
That my faith is justified
Are you sure?
Yes I'm sure down deep inside

 

You're the one that I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey
The one that I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey
The one that I want
Oo-oo-oo, the one I need
Oh, yes, indeed !

 

 

Cine Me

 

 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1638355/

 

 

 

http://www.manfromuncle.com/#home

 

 

Guy Ritchie's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. takes a trip to the past with style.

Laying it on for a 110 minutes the combination of action and comedy blends well into a spy thriller with a nicely told story and amusing characters. The plot details do spring on surprises from time to time, but ultimately, things never get too difficult to follow or comprehend.

The action never blows it out of the water and the comedy never generates tummy aching laughter; however, they appear in appropriate quantities and in seemingly appropriate times.

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer contrast each other nicely, with characters that don't blend well together at first glance. Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Debicki are strong female leads to stay on top with the likes of Cavill and Hammer.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E excels from the story to the set pieces and the characters.

Recommendable.

Cat on a hot tin roof

Keeping secrets.

Maybe

 

 

 

 

“Maybe… you’ll fall in love with me all over again.”
“Hell,” I said, “I love you enough now. What do you want to do? Ruin me?”
“Yes. I want to ruin you.”
“Good,” I said. “That’s what I want too.”

— Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

Cine Me

 

 

Woman in Gold

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404425/

 

 

http://womaningoldmovie.com/

 

 

The amazing true story of Maria Altmann.

 

 "Plenty of stars glitter in Woman In Gold. But the film's impact comes from the fact that it is real: It's the compelling true story of a woman who sought justice in the face of seemingly insurmountable international obstacles."

 

For the second time in a year, the recovery of art treasures stolen by the Nazis gets the big Hollywood star treatment. But where George Clooney's The Monuments Men was a high-stakes wartime drama with a crack military team hunting down caves filled with purloined masterpieces, Woman in Gold is much more intimate in scale. This also makes it more affecting.

 

Maria Altmann was just a child when her Jewish family escaped Vienna. They left behind their extensive art collection, including a 1907 portrait of Maria's aunt by the celebrated Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt.
In the postwar years, the work became the centerpiece of the city's art museum. To the millions who loved it, the painting was known only as "Woman in Gold," effectively erasing the name of its Jewish subject, Adele Bloch-Bauer.

 

It’s a touching film that entertains with warmth and humor while teaching us something about history, law and justice with enormous heart, subtlety and compassion, brilliantly acted and skillfully written. Is there anything Helen Mirren cannot do?

 

 

I will simply say that in addition to a fine film, if you want to see the actual Woman in Gold, it’s on view in the elegant Neue Galerie in New York City from April 2 to September 7.

Cine Me

 

 

 

A Little Chaos

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2639254/

 

 

 

http://www.focusfeatures.com/a_little_chaos

 

 

 

A romantic drama following Sabine (Academy Award winner Kate Winslet), a strong-willed and talented landscape designer, who is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV’s new palace at Versailles. In her new position of power, she challenges gender and class barriers while also becoming professionally and romantically entangled with the court’s renowned landscape artist André Le Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts).

 

Kate Winslet blooms in a film full of heaving bosoms, flouncing dandies and landscape gardening.

 

Alan Rickman directed this – it’s his second behind-the-camera effort, after the Emma Thompson-Phyllida Law Scottish coastal drama The Winter Guest, way back in 1997. It’s an indulgently actorly piece, but in a thoroughly pleasant way.

Rickman also co-stars as a very droll Louis XIV, who likes to take a turn through the palace grounds and throw off his wig after a long morning’s kinging. So it is that Sabine mistakes him for a horticulturalist she’s due to meet, and they spend an afternoon together talking about roses and forbidden love and whatnot. It’s a jolly sequence, well-played by both stars, but the first half of it does wholly consist of Rickman repeating Winslet’s lines back to her with a puzzled question-mark attached. “My book on pears?”

 

 

Matthias Schoenaerts neuters his sex-god reputation, Kate Winslet gets maverick with potted plants, and Alan Rickman almost hijacks his own movie in a weedy horticultural romp through the court of the Sun King.

 

 

 

BB & Lucille

 

 

BB, anyone could play a thousand notes and never say what you said in one.

Wake up

 

 

«Ho there! Wake up! The river in your dream may seem pleasant, but below it is a lake with rapids and crocodiles, the river is evil desire, the lake is the sensual life, its waves are anger, its rapids are lust, and the crocodiles are the women-folk.»

 

Jack  Kerouac Wake up

Outside it's cold, misty and it's raining

 

 

If you want my body and you think I'm sexy
Come on, sugar, let me know
If you really need me just reach out and touch me
Come on, honey, tell me so.

Cine Me

 

 

 

Suite française

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0900387/

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms/film/suite_francaise

 

 

Handsome adaptation of Irène Némirovsky’s epic novel vividly depicts French rural life under the Nazis.

 

The now-celebrated origins of Suite Française, which became a publishing sensation in 2004, are as startling and extraordinary as anything on screen – arguably more so. Having fled Paris as the Nazis approached in 1940, the Ukrainian-Jewish writer Irène Némirovsky relocated to Issy-l’Evêque in Burgundy, where she began work on a planned five-part tale of war and peace. But after being transported to Auschwitz, Némirovsky died (aged just 39) in 1942, her notebooks entrusted to her daughters Denise and Elisabeth, who believed them to be diaries. It wasn’t until the 1990s that Denise discovered what turned out to be the first two instalments of Némirovsky’s extraordinary unfinished work. Published under the umbrella title Suite Française, these two self-contained novellas were reportedly optioned by Hollywood’s Universal Pictures. But by 2007 the title had returned to the French ownership of TF1, with whom British co-writer/director Saul Dibb has brought this French/UK/Belgian co-production to the screen.

 

Taking the novel’s lead, Saul Dibb’s nuanced, compelling film offers an intriguing close-up portrait of Bussy, a northern French village forced to host a garrison of Nazi soldiers. At the film’s heart is a sort-of romance between timid Lucile (Michelle Williams), and a cultured, piano-playing Nazi officer, Bruno (Matthias Schoenaerts). But more lasting than the film’s romantic angle is the snapshot that Dibb (‘Bullet Boy’, ‘The Duchess’) offers of a class-ridden society under the spotlight of occupation.
The themes of collaboration, compassion and betrayal run through the film, and characters who initially seem to be one thing, like Lucile’s hard-hearted mother-in-law (Kristin Scott Thomas), emerge as more complex. Even the film’s portrayal of the Nazi soldiers is satisfyingly complicated. Also refreshing is a sense that we’re thrown into the middle of the uncertainty of war; ‘Suite Française’ works hard to free itself from the benefit of hindsight.

The film is not without its problems – Michelle Williams is an elusive lead, and a wide array of characters come at the expense of depth – but it’s a knotty, thoughtful piece of work nonetheless.

What are you thinking about ?

Kissing you.

Easter Sunday

"A frieza involuntária desta mulher contrasta com a sua paixão confessada e reage necessariamente sobre o amante mais apaixonado. Essas ideias, que muitas vezes flutuam como vapores em redor das almas, determinam nelas uma espécie de doença passageira. Na doce viagem que dois seres empreendem através das belas regiões do amor, esse momento é como uma charneca a atravessar, uma charneca sem estevas, alternadamente húmida e quente, cheia de areias ardentes e cortada de pântanos que leva aos risonhos maciços de verdura vestidos de rosas onde se expande o amor e o seu cortejo de prazeres sobre tapetes de fina verdura. Muitas vezes o homem espiritual encontra-se dotado de um riso estúpido que lhe serve de resposta a tudo. O seu espírito está como que adormecido sob a glacial compressão dos seus desejos. E não é impossível que dois seres igualmente belos, espirituais e apaixonados falem primeiro dos lugares-comuns mais idiotas, até que o acaso, uma palavra, o tremor dum certo olhar, a comunicação duma faísca, os faça encontrar a feliz transição que os leva à vereda florida onde não se caminha, mas onde se rola, sem contudo descer. Este estado de alma é proporcional à violência dos sentimentos."

Honoré de Balzac - A Rapariga dos Olhos de Ouro

Baby, if you're still awake

How does it feel being in these arms?
What's it really like to be loved?
I've been alone now, how long?
Have you ever loved the way that i have?
And i have often wondered who,
Who could love you the way i do?
Now i just want you to know, how i'm touched deep in my soul just being with you.
And i need you more each day.
Baby, if you're still awake,
Call me when you get this. 

Cine Me

Before I Go to Sleep

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1726592/

http://beforeigotosleepthemovie.com/

Writer-director Rowan Joffe’s adaptation of S.J. Watson’s bestseller honors the lurid spirit of the page-turner enough to satisfy fans, but he doesn’t transmute the material into something richer and deeper the way, say, Alfred Hitchcock could, despite the film’s many Hitchcockian nods. 

It's an enjoyable shaggy dog story with a twist that will leave you with the strange feeling that you've seen all this before, even if you can't quite remember where.

Cine Me

Thousand Times Good Night

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2353767/

The first English-language film from Norwegian director Eric Poppe is a conscientious and beautifully shot movie that ultimately bogs down in its own disinclination to come to any kind of dramatically useful conclusion about its subject. Said subject is Rebecca. Rebecca is accomplished, brilliant, and beautiful. 

Heroic messenger or adrenaline addict? Truth teller or vulture? In “1,000 Times Good Night,” Rebecca (Juliette Binoche), a celebrated, morally self-righteous war photographer hooked on risk-taking, leads two lives that are in continual conflict.

While stunningly shot by Poppe (whose eye as a former war photographer himself serves him well), it’s the challenging questions posed that draw you in. They’re about gender roles and expectations – do we expect more of Rebecca because she’s meant to be the nurturing mother? They’re also questions about the nature of war photography itself, and the type of person that it takes to step into this job. Binoche reveals all these complex facets in her soulful, deeply affecting performance. Rebecca is driven by a mixture of anger, passion, and integrity, but there’s also the question of whether her actions are at least partly those of an adrenaline addict.

It’s a rich, fascinating and provocative film that never takes sides or opts for easy answers.  

I wonder l wonder I wonder I do

I wonder about the love you can't find

And I wonder about the loneliness that's mine

I wonder how much going have you got

And I wonder about your friends that are not

I wonder I wonder I wonder I do.

P.S - I wonder how many times you had sex. True.

Let me see what spring is like (Fly me to the moon)

In other words,
Hold my hand.
In other words,
baby, kiss me.

In other words

Please be true.

In other words,

I love you.

Since I've been loving you boy

And the drives, and drives.
Oh, oh, and drives.

Cine Me

Big Eyes

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1126590/

http://bigeyesfilm.com/

Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes' paints a beautiful picture.

As is appropriate considering the story of what amounts to fraud in the artistic community, Big Eyes paints a deceptively simple picture that masks some genuine profundities. The story concerns the strange tale of Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) who (and this is basically first-act spoiler territory) painted a series of best-selling paintings but only after her husband (Christoph Waltz) insisted that he take credit for the work. That’s basically the story in a nutshell, but it’s a surprisingly compelling one that wrings its seemingly low-stakes drama for maximum emotional impact. Thanks to a superb star turn by Amy Adams and a strong character performance by Christoph Waltz (who, aside from his Tarantino adventures, has never been better) that reveals utter cruelty disguised as over-the-top comedy, Big Eyes is a relentlessly engaging motion picture.

"Big Eyes" is a strangely conventional entry in Tim Burton's filmography. The story itself is fascinating, though, which helps, and Amy Adams' quiet meticulous performance as Margaret Keane is a beautiful and emotional piece of work.

"Big Eyes" is full of fascinating questions about the meaning of art, the concept of popularity, and what it means to develop a huge audience. Back to Warhol: whether or not something is seen as "good" by an expert is irrelevant if so many people like it. The cultural gatekeepers will always be apoplectic in such a situation. "Big Eyes" is not a major film from Tim Burton, and it has some tonal issues, but one can see why he was drawn to such material. In a way, it's a very personal film.

Waltz hams it up in high style, though a little more restraint would have made Margaret seem less a dupe for falling for a man whose only artistry is the con. It's Adams who restores our rooting interest by showing us the steel even in Margaret's reserve. It's a performance of haunting transparency.
It's clear that Burton sympathizes, minus irony, with Margaret's fervent belief in what one critic calls "the big, stale jellybeans" she puts on canvas. A recent showing of Burton's artwork at New York's Museum of Modern Art attracted long lines and critical brickbats. Maybe that's why Big Eyes, for all its tonal shifts and erratic pacing, seems like Burton's most personal and heartfelt film in years, a tribute to the yearning that drives even the most marginalized artist to self expression no matter what the hell anyone thinks.

 Walter died in 2000, with no creative output. 

Margaret, 87, still paints every day.


 Burton gives her the sweetest reward in Big Eyes: the last laugh.

Oscars 2015

“So many people with this disease feel isolated and marginalized,” she explained, adding that movies make people feel seen and not alone. “And people with Alzheimer’s deserve to be seen so we can find a cure.”


Julianne Moore

When we run off for the weekend

I love the weightless feeling that accompanies us.

Earned It

You make it look like it’s magic

Cause I see nobody, nobody but you, you, you

I'm never confused

Hey, hey

I'm so used to being used

So I love when you call unexpected

Cause I hate when the moment's expected

So I'ma care for you, you, you

I'ma care for you, you, you, you, yeah

Cause girl you're perfect

You're always worth it

And you deserve it

The way you work it

Cause girl you earned it

Girl you earned it

You know our love would be tragic

So you don't pay it, don't pay it no mind

We live with no lies

Hey, hey

You're my favorite kind of night

Source: http://www.directlyrics.com/the-weeknd-earned-it-lyrics.html

Cine Me

A Most Violent Year

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2937898/

http://amostviolentyear.com/

There's a kind of 1970s American movie that's catnip to directors who grew up in the '80s and '90s while watching that sort of movie on cable TV and home video. It's visually and thematically dark, and very male. It has Rembrandt lighting and a palette dominated by paper-bag brown, burnt yellow, leprous emerald, and dirty cream. There's talk of honor and integrity and tradition, of old ways passing and a meaner, pettier, more chaotic, new way taking its place. It is an organized crime film, or a family drama, or a big city nightmare, or all three things at once. Nobody in it is conventionally likable. The hero, despite a certain reticence about selling what's left of his soul, soon figures out that to get ahead in this world, you have to be cold and calculating, and divest yourself of illusions. "A Most Violent Year," a 1981 New York period piece written and directed by J.C. Chandor ("All is Lost," "Margin Call"), is that kind of movie. Oh, boy, is it that kind of movie. It's quite good, for what it is. But it's that "for what it is" part that proves slightly exasperating.

The film's title refers to an actual, statistical designation: 1981 was the most violent year in New York City history up till that point, with 1,841 homicides (the number climbed through 1991 before starting to level off). Coupled with the retro look and rhythm and subject matter—the film is a dirty business movie, a crime film, a crusading New York DA story, and a visual homage to cinematographer Gordon Willis ("The Godfather," "The Conversation"), and a lot of other '70s-film signifiers as well—it all feels like a romanticization of a past which, through a twenty-teens, American middle-class filmmaker's eyes, looks like a Brigadoon of urban ethnic machismo. The movie is so funereal that at times it plays like a memorial service, not just for a particular kind of American drama, but for the male heroes who populated them: a snapshot of one of the last cultural moments when American men could be Men, in that old fashioned, two-fisted, furrowed-brow-and-whispered-threats sort of way. 

The movie is devoted to the scrappy side of fortune-building at the end of the industrial age.

The glory of “A Most Violent Year” lies in Chandor’s sense of how a certain corner of the world (and, by implication, a much larger portion of it) works, for ill or for good.

A tense freeway shootout and car/foot/rail chase sequence aside (the latter plays like a sombre variation on a theme from The French Connection), A Most Violent Year keeps its action tinder largely dry, the fireworks generated instead by tense conversations between husbands and wives, lawyers and district attorneys, police and putative thieves. Chastain is terrific as the Lady Macbeth power behind the throne, chiding the authorities for being “very disrespectful” while cooking the company books with fingernail-saving disdain. Isaac is a portrait of manicured, camel-coated anxiety, a man struggling to maintain his moral-code cool amid overstretched mortgages and 30-day payment deadlines. Top marks, too, to David Oyelowo as the DA whose crime-busting clampdown masks naked political ambition and Albert Brooks as the world-weary, dyspeptic lawyer walking the thin blue line between his client and the authorities.

When “New York, New York” lyricist Fred Ebb wrote that immortal line, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,” it’s doubtful he imagined the life-or-death stakes such sentiments take on in “A Most Violent Year,” an ’80s-era NYC crime drama in which just making it from one day to the next seems like a major accomplishment. In his third turn behind the camera, writer-director J.C. Chandor has delivered a tough, gritty, richly atmospheric thriller that lacks some of the formal razzle-dazzle of his solo seafaring epic, “All Is Lost,” but makes up for it with an impressively sustained low-boil tension and the skillful navigating of a complex plot (at least up until a wholly unnecessary last-minute twist). Like last fall’s “Out of the Furnace,” this solid, grown-up movie-movie is almost certainly too dark and moody to connect with a broad mainstream public or make major awards-season waves, but it does much to confirm Chandor as a formidable filmmaking talent, and star Oscar Isaac as one of the essential American actors of the moment. 

The movie is also a triumph of subtle period craftsmanship on almost every level, especially the work of production designer John P. Goldsmith, who has a field day with long-bodied Cadillac coupes and diesel Mercedes, metallic desks and filing cabinets; costume designer Kasia Walicka Mamone, applying bounteous earth tones (with Chastain outfitted by Giorgio Armani); and the great cinematographer Bradford Young (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”), whose widescreen images are retro without ever verging on kitsch, with ungentrified Gotham locations bathed in a crisp winter’s light and swirls of indoor cigarette smoke.