Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

z28rikard First of all I have to raise my hands to Macon Blair. What an astonishing performance. And what a debut for both him and for Jeremy Saulnier. The first 15 minutes are as good as any Ridley Scott production.You get the Thelma & Louise feel going.... The filtered light, the scenery, the close-ups, the simple but strong plot evolves to an astonishing masterpiece.All of it perfection. I really like the Anti-hero theme in this. I have always rooted for the underdog all my life. And here we have it on film. Lucky me, lucky us. I have a feeling that we have the Tarantino of the 2010 and on, here. Just check out Green Room and you will see that this is not a fluke.Good luck to this film-team. Cause they are sticking together for a long time, is my guess.God speed everyone.

AT It is a curious piece, but a pleasing one. The auteur, Jeremy Saulnier, has roots in cinematography and it shows. While the visuals are deliberate at times and overly-filtered in general, the film has a beautifully polished quality to some pretty grainy and dire images at times. It is easy on the eyes - and what a relief to be allowed the pleasure of enjoying some long shots instead of the epileptic, Bay- esque staccato cutting that seems to be so prevalent these days.Speaking of outlandish budgets, this film was assembled for around $35 000 courtesy of Kickstarter, and to all those that contributed : feel pleased on money well-spent.Nothing terribly new here: a revenge odyssey and a passable thriller with the usual mixing-bowl pros and cons. But for $35k, a novice film-maker and a cast of un- and barely-knowns to achieve an award at Cannes and almost a million dollars at the domestic popcorn-store I feel compelled to give them a nod or two myself.The story involves a mysterious vagrant man who seemingly drifts through his days without causing anyone much bother. Yet upon finding out that his father's killer is being released from prison, he kicks into payback mode and briskly goes about executing (cough) a messy, committed, revenge killing. Somewhat botched (both himself and the attack) he realises that his actions have consequences on not just his personal safety, but an estranged sister and her kids too - his victim's family being the two- legs-and-your-heart-for-an-eye kinda folk. Things get progressively out of control as he tries to spirit his family to safety and offer himself up as restitution; but we all know it's never easy reasoning with armed criminal sociopaths. So everyone gets a bit carried away.It's taut - without ever being truly tense - but pleasingly the story moves. The acting is a mixed bag, mostly due to somewhat flimsy supporting characters, but the lead performance by Macon Blair (Dwight) is truly excellent. His soft features and placid expressions render him very hard to date (guess his age, not woo romantically) and his immersion into the role is impressive, especially given his extended screen-time makes him vulnerable to over-scrutiny. You never learn much about him, nor experience a bond, but he has a likable, authentic quality.Blair's performance, coupled with some stomach-churning realism, are the tent-poles of this picture. The violence is sporadic, explosive and explicit, but it's the suffering that certain characters endure which is effecting and accomplished in its presentation.The score is understated and appropriate and the outcome suitably bleak without being nihilistic, never quite delivering a devilish twist but swaying just far enough away from convention to keep one thinking longer than the first credits.Some have opined that Blue Ruin has elements of Tarantino and The Coen brothers - I'm inclined to disagree. Yes, their collective influence is residual in most independent film-making these days. But this movie doesn't orchestrate the stylish blood-shed of Tarantino's violence nor deliver the sly black humour that grouts the Coen body counts. If we must seek comparisons then I suggest back-track further left-field and compare works of Vincent Gallo and Arthur Penn. If you are a fan of either, or indeed both, their visionary output then sit yourself in front of Blue Ruin post-haste.Attempting to box this film does it a disservice. It is no masterpiece and its budget and story limitations are there to behold. Despite it's warts it entertains, engrosses and is something different. And for a movie which isn't an original, well - that's quite some trick isn't it?

Leofwine_draca BLUE RUIN is a fine revenge thriller of the type that you thought America couldn't make anymore. These low-fi films are the opposite of the bloated and glossy Hollywood-style blockbuster and all the better for it. The film I can most liken it to is THE ROVER, a similar low-key Aussie story about the path of revenge and the unusual outcomes that one must face when embarking down it.To say too much about the plot of BLUE RUIN would be to spoil it, so I won't. What I will say is that this is a slow paced and spare film that keeps you gripped throughout, including in the moments where not much happens. It has a drive and consistency that makes it work. The suspense keeps you hooked to the ensuing events and the violence, when it comes, is brief but extremely hard-hitting. A squad of naturalistic performances enhance a film in which realism is key, and the result is one of the freshest American thrillers to be made in years.

tomgillespie2002 During Blue Ruin's festival run in 2013, I recall hearing whispers of a new visionary in the vein of the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino who was unafraid to shock and rattle the audience with sudden explosions of violence combined with jet-black humour. While Jeremy Saulnier's second feature, following 2007's Murder Party, certainly has elements of the Coen's claustrophobic neo-noir work, the Tarantino comparisons are completely misjudged. Blue Ruin is very much the work of a director sculpting his own vision, and one that will keep you glued to your seat as the film twists and turns, deliberately dodging nearly every trope of the revenge drama.While most revenge flicks begin with an act of violence that will lead its scarred protagonist on their journey of righting a wrong, Blue Ruin's initial hook is that it opens slowly and ominously, with a dirty, bearded man breaking into a home to take a bath. When the family arrive home, he flees into the neighbourhood naked, stealing clothes from a nearby washing line. Ragged and apparently half- starved, the man stumbles back to his home - a hollowed-out blue car (the 'blue ruin' of the title) in the middle of a field. This, as it turns out, is Dwight, our great hero, played with astonishing subtlety by Macon Blair, and a visit from the police quickly sets him on a vastly different path. The man responsible for something horrific in Dwight's past has been released from prison, so he heads back to his hometown seeking revenge.The revenge is not the final goal of the film, as this is carried out early on in particularly gruesome and realistic fashion. Instead, it is the repercussions that place Dwight and his estranged family in a situation they can either flee from or face head-on. The victim of Dwight's act has his own family, only they are all gun- wielding criminals, and the lack of news coverage of the incident can only mean one thing - they have decided to take matters into their own hands. Although they are rarely seen throughout the course of the film, you get the sense that they are never far behind, forcing Dwight to seek help from and old childhood friend, ex-Army good ol' boy Ben (Devin Ratray - who I only realised after the film had finished played the bullying Buzz in Home Alone (1990)), and his arsenal of firearms.While it may sound like the film veers off into the realms of gun fantasy, it really doesn't. The relative ease in which Dwight acquires weaponry only gives the film an underlying anti-gun message, and the scenes of bloody violence are certainly anything but pornographic. They are ugly and revolting, as are many of the film's characters, even the ones we're on the side of. Non-preachy themes aside, the main pleasures to be had with Blue Ruin are during its smaller moments. This is a film where a burst tyre or an accidentally self-inflicted knife wound to the hand don't simply provide an excuse for a set-piece, but pose serious problems for its antagonist. Despite the film moving at a slow pace for the most part, it's entirely nerve-jangling and almost scary, as it's almost impossible to guess where the movie may be heading. While I feel Saulnier's next slice of terror Green Room is a better film, this is only a sign of a director perfecting his craft.