In your prototypical revenge movie, something heinous happens, after which the protagonist spends the rest of the narrative trying to exact vengeance upon the person/people who committed the act. . . but in this curve-ball of a thriller, Blue Ruin (2013), written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room), that is not the case.
Following the struggling Dwight (Macon Blair – Green Room), ever since his parents were murdered, he has been living a form of homelessness out of his beat up, rusting 90s Pontiac Bonneville. Almost as silent as a monk, the first conversation he has had in some time is when he is notified that the man put behind bars for killing his parents ages ago is getting released.
Instead of your prototypical storyline, almost immediately Dwight offs the man, never thinking twice about any repercussions. By no means a John Wick or James Bond, he sloppily completes the job, mistakenly leaving behind his car keys, vehicle, and even some DNA. . . which just so happens to give the rest of the Cleland family all the information they need to locate Dwight’s completely unaware as to what just happened sister Sam (Amy Hargreaves) and her daughters.
Also unaware that the dead man’s family are not to be messed with, soon he becomes the hunted instead of the hunter. In all honesty, the original murders happened so long ago that Dwight really doesn’t know much about the whole thing. How did the murders actually go down? Might the now dead man not even have killed his parents? If so, who did? Could Cleland family members Teddy (Kevin Kolack), Hope (Stacy Rock), Kris (Eve Plumb – Jan from The Brady Bunch), and Carl (Brent Werzner) be even more dangerous? And, perhaps most importantly, can Dwight now finish the unprofessional job he started?
With actor Macon Blair developing a struggling character who really doesn’t have the skills needed to perform such an arduous task, Jeremy Saulnier’s script becomes a tense slow burner crime thriller. Though Dwight has almost nowhere to turn, he is finally able to track down highschool friend and gun enthusiast Ben Gaffney (Devin Ratray – Buzz from Home Alone), hoping to arm himself as the shady Cleland family closes in. Feeling ever more guilty, Dwight is unsure as to whether he will find truce, more vengeance (even though he is uncertain he even wants that), or his own death.
Standing out thanks to its reverse style of revenge storytelling, its successful strategy of trimming the fat makes it a most taut, tense, terse, and traumatic crime thriller. Not meant to be a feel good feature, its grim vision could very much be the starting of a Hatfield and McCoy type family feud.
An impressive low budget feature, Blue Ruin was made for somewhere between 3-4 hundred grand (the funds coming from family, friends, a few smaller producers, and a successful Kickstarter campaign), with Saulnier actually utilizing his parent’s beat-up blue Pontiac and their home as a set to save money. Ending up making its name as a Cannes entry, it even won an International Federation of Film Critics (or FIPRESCI) Award at the event. So, let this post help you discover this hidden gem, and see if the keys are in the car.