We had one film release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

A Most Violent Year

While this is the last full official release of 2014, there are a few films that did qualifying runs, but which have not opened in full limited release.

J.C. Chandor’s third feature film puts Oscar Isaac, who is perpetually flirting with Oscar consideration, but getting nowhere, as an immigrant trying to protect his family and his business as the city’s rough crime-filled streets reach a pinnacle of danger. Jessica Chastain stars as his wife and key source of support.

Chandor’s two previous films scored one Oscar nomination apiece. His first, Margin Call was a late-coming contender that pulled out an Original Screenplay nomination. His second film was a more widely spotted, but still no more visibly watched lost-at-sea drama All Is Lost. It was thought that film would score several nods, but it ultimately came up with only a Sound Editing nomination of all things.

This time around, Chandor’s film may be heading for the same single-nomination fate as Jessica Chastain is looking more and more like a lock for a Best Supporting Actress nomination, but the film is struggling to catch fire in several other categories. Chandor’s films are well respected, but are being poorly handled by distributors who don’t seem to know how to market him. The first two films were handled by Roadside Attractions. This time out, he’s moved on to A24, one of the micro-distributors whose indie cinema typically earns praise, but rarely gets recognized by Oscar.

The film could make a surprise showing in Best Original Screenplay or Best Picture, and could also figure in some of the design categories, but nothing is for certain at this juncture.