It's that time of year again, when the "Best of 2014" lists are starting to crop up and people are making their predictions (or really, their wish-lists) about who and what will be up for Academy Awards, but there's a movie I've noticed is missing from nearly every list worth looking at: Blue Ruin.
The low-budget indie drama centers around Dwight, who we first encounter as a bearded transient living out of his car- the "blue ruin" of the title. Though he may be the main character, Dwight is certainly not a hero. He's meek, short, gangly, and nearly mute from the trauma of his parent's murder. The meekness eventually fades, but only slightly, and only when some unsettling news comes to him: the man who killed his parents is being released from jail. As far as plot goes, revealing anything else would give too much away, but needless to say, revenge is not for the faint of heart, and that's exactly what Dwight is. His vengeance is clumsy and misguided, and because of this, both sides will suffer.
Newcomer Macon Blair carries the entire movie as Dwight, and though he rarely speaks, his eyes say everything. In every scene, regardless of what's happening, Blair's eyes seem afraid, miserable, and reluctant, but his body soldiers on, carrying out what he believes to be due justice. You can see the internal struggle that happens at each turning point- the good inside Dwight asks why, but the rest of him cares not. A bad guy killed his parents. That bad guy must pay. But Dwight never stops, because if he did, he'd be forced to ask himself if vengeance was the right response, and if he's directing his anger at the right man. I’d never seen Blair in a movie before, but I know I'd like to see him (and those big, empty eyes of his) again.
Blue Ruin contains a good amount of violence, but the way in which it is all carried out is... idiosyncratic, to say the least. In the first bloody sequence there is an incident with a knife, but the attack is so haphazard that the drama of the movie mixes with a little dark comedy. When violence isn’t set up in a way that makes it easy to enjoy, we, the audience, are forced to respond to it as it plays out in front of our eyes. From the beginning, director Jeremy Saulnier proves that he is a responsible director. He's capable of spilling copious amounts of blood, but he never glorifies it. The attacks and shootings never become entertaining, only increasingly strange and painful. He films everything from Dwight’s point of view, and the action, however fast-moving, is detailed and convincing.
Saulnier is also in charge of the cinematography here, and the atmosphere he creates for such horrifying events is undoubtedly beautiful. The color blue is prominent in most of the shots, and though it's always present, it doesn't seem overwhelming.
This is easily the most suspenseful time I’ve had at a movie in a long while, and Blue Ruin is one of the best low-budget films I've seen in years. Hitchcock would be proud of the way the story unravels- not only don’t you know what’s going to happen, you don’t know what you’d like to happen.
The low-budget indie drama centers around Dwight, who we first encounter as a bearded transient living out of his car- the "blue ruin" of the title. Though he may be the main character, Dwight is certainly not a hero. He's meek, short, gangly, and nearly mute from the trauma of his parent's murder. The meekness eventually fades, but only slightly, and only when some unsettling news comes to him: the man who killed his parents is being released from jail. As far as plot goes, revealing anything else would give too much away, but needless to say, revenge is not for the faint of heart, and that's exactly what Dwight is. His vengeance is clumsy and misguided, and because of this, both sides will suffer.
Newcomer Macon Blair carries the entire movie as Dwight, and though he rarely speaks, his eyes say everything. In every scene, regardless of what's happening, Blair's eyes seem afraid, miserable, and reluctant, but his body soldiers on, carrying out what he believes to be due justice. You can see the internal struggle that happens at each turning point- the good inside Dwight asks why, but the rest of him cares not. A bad guy killed his parents. That bad guy must pay. But Dwight never stops, because if he did, he'd be forced to ask himself if vengeance was the right response, and if he's directing his anger at the right man. I’d never seen Blair in a movie before, but I know I'd like to see him (and those big, empty eyes of his) again.
Blue Ruin contains a good amount of violence, but the way in which it is all carried out is... idiosyncratic, to say the least. In the first bloody sequence there is an incident with a knife, but the attack is so haphazard that the drama of the movie mixes with a little dark comedy. When violence isn’t set up in a way that makes it easy to enjoy, we, the audience, are forced to respond to it as it plays out in front of our eyes. From the beginning, director Jeremy Saulnier proves that he is a responsible director. He's capable of spilling copious amounts of blood, but he never glorifies it. The attacks and shootings never become entertaining, only increasingly strange and painful. He films everything from Dwight’s point of view, and the action, however fast-moving, is detailed and convincing.
Saulnier is also in charge of the cinematography here, and the atmosphere he creates for such horrifying events is undoubtedly beautiful. The color blue is prominent in most of the shots, and though it's always present, it doesn't seem overwhelming.
This is easily the most suspenseful time I’ve had at a movie in a long while, and Blue Ruin is one of the best low-budget films I've seen in years. Hitchcock would be proud of the way the story unravels- not only don’t you know what’s going to happen, you don’t know what you’d like to happen.