Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier gave the revenge thriller an exciting jolt in 2013 with the gripping Blue Ruin. Quiet, plausible, and humanistic, I was completely taken by Saulnier's supreme confidence and his relation to what real revenge might look like when I first saw the film. September 22nd is the tenth anniversary of its American debut at Fantastic Fest, so I decided to look back.
The most striking aspect of this film is its superb use of silence. As a result, the mood is amped to the stratosphere. There are no chatty characters present. Our lead, Dwight (the then-unknown Macon Blair), barely speaks for much of the opening section of the movie. His existence as a broken man scraping by on scraps of food from dumpsters while living out of a car parked by a beachside road is conveyed to us almost completely nonverbally. Saulnier and Blair masterfully imply unspoken tragedy and solemnity throughout this intriguing beginning. It is these silent moments and slices of human misery that will make the explosions of grisly violence that are barreling our way all the more horrific and shocking.
See, Dwight's parents were murdered and their killer is being released from a too-short prison sentence on a technicality. Once Dwight learns of this, he sets his mind to evening the score. However, he's not an action hero or a tough guy, or even all that brave. He's just broken and single-minded, which also means he doesn't think his plans through. This will end up costing him a great deal. This is a flick about an ordinary person's revenge. Dwight looks like a bum at first and eventually like your average office schlub. He's sickened by the violence surrounding him but it seems like he really died a long time ago. Now, he's just giving himself the only funeral left to him. However, as we sink deeper into the runtime, we find that the situation isn't as simple as it initially seemed to both us and the characters.
Another facet of this film that sets it apart from other revenge films is that it starts where most other flicks from this genre end. I won't impart spoilers but the subversion of expectations created by the structure is a nice breath of fresh air. Even though there is so much silence, the pacing never feels off and the 90-minute runtime allows no narrative fat. All said it's a brisk and enthralling tale, tightly told.
Though it is a relatively low-budget film ($420K, according to Wikipedia), it never feels that way. This is thanks to the polished look and the game performances by mostly no-name actors. Naturalism abounds and all the character beats breathe an easy realism into the proceedings. Besides Blair's Dwight (whose mournful eyes provide our window into this world), Amy Hargreaves' take on a sister that's soldiered on and Devin Ratray's portrayal of a conscientious survivalist friend are also linchpins of the piece.
I just want to spend a brief moment on the violence. This is not an action movie. The audience is meant to feel every knife wound and gunshot. There is no glorification here. Though I like the film very much, it is not what you would call fun. Pain and despair take center stage.
Though this is a small, quiet film, Blue Ruin makes a big impact. You may not recognize much, if any, of the cast but that lends to its verisimilitude. It is every bit a revenge thriller, but it surprises with a few atypical twists. Jeremy Saulnier greatly impressed me with his one-two punch of this film and Green Room. So much so that, I'll always be keeping an eye out for future work, despite Hold the Dark being somewhat forgettable. Blue Ruin, though, is excellent and well worth your time. Highly recommended for fans of Bone Tomahawk, You Were Never Really Here, and Destroyer.
Michael Cavender