Written and Directed
By: Jeremy Saulnier
Rated R for strong
bloody violence, and language
Release Date: April
25th, 2014 (Limited & VOD)
Review By: Sean
Kayden
Official 2013 Cannes Film Festival
entry “Blue Ruin” is a taut, grim and satisfying revenge thriller that doesn’t
rely on any cinematic tropes seen in countless other tales. While the story of
an every man turned vigilante isn’t anything new, “Blue Ruin” positions itself
as anything but ordinary. The first twenty minutes is tense and almost entirely
wordless. We follow a heavily bearded man known as Dwight, who sleeps in a
broken blue Pontiac and eats out of dumpsters. It seems he’s been aimlessly
wandering around for quite some time. It’s not until a sympathetic officer
knocks on the window to take up Dwight and takes him to jail where we find out
what his story is. While he isn’t in any trouble, she told him about this man
(Wade Cleland, Jr.) who would be let out of prison in a few days. We come to
learn this man was responsible for a double murder in 1993. As the tale
unravels, small things are revealed such as the mysterious Dwight who returns
to his childhood home in Virginia to carry out an act of vengeance to the man
who murdered his parents. Writer, director, and cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier
isn’t afraid of silence here. Some of the most intense scenes have no words but
actions. “Blue Ruin” is all about the characters, mostly carried by the
compelling Dwight (played by Macon Blair) and the skillful way the film was
constructed.
The peaceful demeanor of Dwight
soon erupts once he follows Wade Cleland to a restaurant with his family to
celebrate his release from prison. In a bathroom stall, Dwight busts out and
stabs Wade. He doesn’t go down and goes for Dwight’s throat. As panic floods
Dwight’s face, he is able to stab Wade right in the temple that quickly turns into
a bloody and gruesome scene. Dwight sneaks out toward the back of the
restaurant only to realize his neck chain, which has his car key attached to it
is not on his neck. With time not on his side, he runs over to the limo that
picked up Wade to discover those keys lying there. He explosively drives away
as the family of Wade starts shooting at the limo. After clearing the scene,
Dwight discovers someone else in the limo. He pulls off to the side of the
highway where this young boy tells him that you killed the wrong guy. Dwight,
fearful that Wade’s family will be hunting him down (after all he left his car
at the restaurant which is registered to him) returns to his estranged sister’s
house to inform her what he has done. Dwight knows what to expect now, but it
doesn’t make anything easier. Blue Ruin isn’t about a man who miraculously
becomes an unstoppable killing machine like most Hollywood revenge thrillers.
It features a reluctant man trying to save his family from very bad people. “Blue
Ruin” is this small, Kickstarter funded film that accomplishes what some of the
biggest Hollywood thrillers with big time stars could only wish to achieve.
The indie picture is a classic tale
of an eye for an eye. It uses violence and most of all guns as a way of handling
a problem. It’s extremely violent at times, but there’s no way around that.
This low budget film is engrossing and rarely displays a dull moment. It’s not
as entirely slow paced as I’d imagined going into it. Saulnier’s cinematography
screams with beauty and vitality. His award winning film is nerve-racking, gnawing,
and meticulously crafted. It’s one of the strongest American films of the year
and even if this riveting film never garners the attention it much deserves, it
certainly won’t be the last time we hear from Saulnier.
Grade: 4 out of 5
