Gold Standard: AFI Fest gala opener: J.C. Chandor’s ‘A Most Violent Year’ draws raves

Filmmaker J.C. Chandor walked onstage Thursday night at the Dolby Theatre to introduce his new movie, the crime drama “A Most Violent Year,” the gala opener of this year’s AFI Fest.

Pointing to a seat near the front, Chandor noted: “The last time I was in this room, I was sitting right there and lost to Woody Allen,” referring to the 2012 Oscars, at which Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” won the original screenplay award over Chandor’s “Margin Call.” Chandor then paused, adding, “Let’s hope it goes a little better tonight.”

Two hours later, standing poolside at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel at a lively party following the film, Chandor breathed a sigh of relief. Not only did the AFI audience dig the film, but the reviews (which broke online during this, the world premiere of the movie) were, for the most part, ecstatic.

“It’s nerve-racking because this is the first audience that has seen the movie,” Chandor said between greeting a long line of well-wishers. “What struck me was the audience’s laughter during little moments just so they could release the tension a bit. I loved hearing that!”

There’s plenty of tension in “A Most Violent Year,” which stars Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain as a New York couple, circa 1981, trying to turn their heating oil business into a much larger enterprise. Their competitors aren’t happy about the expansion, starting a turf war that more than lives up to the film’s title.

It’s an accomplished piece of filmmaking, a slow-boiling, atmospheric thriller that further establishes Chandor, following “Margin Call” and last year’s Robert Redford survival tale “All Is Lost,” as a terrific talent. Chastain, in a supporting turn, commands the movie while on-screen, establishing her character as a woman you’d want by you during a roadside emergency.

But the film really belongs to Isaac, a man, like Chandor, quickly establishing himself as a first-rate talent following his standout turn last year as the uncompromising folk singer in the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.” (Joel Coen turned up at the party in support.)

Whether that will translate into any awards-season love remains open to question, as “A Most Violent Year,” like “Llewyn Davis” and “All Is Lost,” might be too dark and gritty to connect with many academy voters. Indie distributor A24 Films will release the movie in Los Angeles and New York on Dec. 31.

Twitter: @GlennWhipp