Hollywoodified glorification and glamourisation of violence and murder get a thorough gutting in “Blue Ruin,” Jeremy Saulnier’s spellbindingly disciplined, stripped-down indie thriller which paints its grisly revenge story in a grimly authentic and blood-soaked light. Set in the American South, the film — which was crowd-funded through a Kickstarter campaign and bagged the FIPRESCI Prize, as voted for by critics, at last year’s Cannes Film Festival — follows Dwight (Macon Blair), a raggedy, homeless outsider whose quiet life as a drifter is turned upside down when the killer of his parents is set free from jail. Travelling to Virginia in a rusted, curiously bullet-riddled Pontiac — the eponymous blue ruin — Dwight embarks on a mission of revenge, a mission which brings him back to his estranged sister (Amy Hargreaves), whom he must protect when the ex-con’s family come gunning for some payback.
Saulnier’s second film, following his little-seen 2007 horror comedy “Murder Party,” is astonishingly grounded. This isn’t the kind of thriller where the hero can take an arrow to the knee and simply walk it off; indeed, soon after receiving said injury, an increasingly woozy Dwight tries in vain to mend his bleeding wound, realises he’s completely unfit to do so, stumbles his way to the hospital and collapses at the reception. The film feels like a response, or perhaps a kick up the backside, to fakey Hollywood violence, where savagery is treated flippantly and often shown to have little consequence; Saulnier goes to great lengths to make the violence of “Blue Ruin” feel unnervingly real, subverting cliche to achieve a fresh and frightening authenticity. The resulting drama is breathtakingly intense, with scenes so dripping with suspense they’ll have you cramming your fist into your mouth to stop you from squealing.
Blair, meanwhile, captivates as the amateur but endearingly determined avenger Dwight: he’s a rather pathetic figure, seen in the film’s opening sleeping in his car, eating out of dumpsters and urinating into glass jars, but it’s to the credit of Blair’s subtly layered performance that not only does he gain our sympathy but also that we’re absolutely with him right to the bitter end. As Dwight finds himself slap-bang in the middle of a blood-drenched nightmare, Blair inhabits all the fears that must come with suffering and committing acts of horrific violence: fear of death, fear of failure and fear for the safety of one’s loved ones. Dwight is especially concerned about that last point, and who can blame him: as he’s quick to discover, violence only begets more violence, and as we see throughout the chilling “Blue Ruin,” one swing of a blade can spiral terrifyingly out of control.
Rating: 9/10
This was a great film! I think Macon Blair did an Oscar-Worthy job in this movie; I'm highly surprised his career hasn't skyrocketed after playing Dwight. "Blue Ruin" epitomizes the best of indie filmmaking- tough, gritty, real, with something legitimately interesting to say. I like your discussion of the way violence is presented; it's a good point I missed in my review of the film; in many ways "Blue Ruin" is kind of the Anti-Tarantino flick. I want my dad to see this but he doesn't like depressing films so I've been hitherto unsuccessful, though I think he would like it if he would give it a chance. Bye!
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