Well, These Performances Look Amazing

It's definitely Oscar-bait movie season, and so many of us are just at the start of this year's path to awards oversaturation. Will Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Remayne get Oscar nods for playing super-smart Brits who have had more than their share of personal struggles? Will Reese Witherspoon pull a McConaghey, or maybe even forge her own path and pull a Witherspoon? Sometimes you just gotta lay it all to the side and look ahead. Thus, I'm not gonna stress over whether Jessica Chastain will swing a Golden Globe nod for A Most Violent Year. I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy the bits of what looks like a powerhouse performance in the first trailer for the movie.

Starring Chastain and Inside Llewyn Davis star Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent year is set in 1981 in New York City — not-coincidentally one of the city's most violent years on record. Chastain and Isaac play a married couple who are rapidly discovering that their American dream is shaping up to be a lot more harrowing and life-threatening than they thought.

The film comes out December 31, 2014, right around when the awards debate hits a fever pitch. But beyond that — and admittedly without seeing the full movie — what we see of Chastain's performance here is pretty good evidence that she's an actress who's here to stay. Her Anna Morales is an intriguing mix of vulnerable and incredibly intimidating.

You can see for yourself below.

And here's the U.K. teaser trailer.

Image: A24