CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (3/30/20): BLUE RUIN

CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (3/30/20): 

BLUE RUIN

By Chris La Vigna (@Chris_LaVigna)

Dwight (Macon Blair) must reckon with past and present trauma in BLUE RUIN

In 2013,  director Jeremy Saulnier (GREEN ROOM, HOLD THE DARK) and his childhood friend/longtime filmmaking cohort Macon Blair (I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE) dropped a bombshell of a movie unto an unsuspecting populace: BLUE RUIN, a tale of one lost man's quest for revenge, and the fallout of his poorly made plans.

Initially conceived as a last ditch effort to make their film careers take off after their prior feature MURDER PARTY failed to make a big enough splash (spoiler alert: it worked), Saulnier and Blair crafted a simple yet brutal story: Dwight (Blair, playing the lead role with a potent mix of stoicism and vulnerability) is a drifter who skulks around Delaware boardwalks and lives out of a beat-up blue Pontiac. One day, he's scooped up by a local cop who knows him and gets some big news: the man who gunned down his parents in a parking lot some ten-plus years ago is being released from prison.

Dwight does with this information what you'd probably expect a man with nothing to lose would do, and his fleeting moment of righteous retribution kickstarts a series of violent reprisals and gut-wrenching revelations as to the truth of what happened to his parents on that fateful day. Saulnier has a zeal for telling stories about people who make poor decisions and are forced to deal with the consequences, and BLUE RUIN is a shining example of this. There are no easy outs or quick fixes for our protagonist, and when Dwight sustains an injury, you feel the full brunt of his pain as he does his best to limp forward and complete his mission.

Just two country boys, hashin' it out...

Saulnier is credited not only with writing and directing the film, but also functioning as the director of photography. The washed out colors, multiple breathtaking wide shots, and simple yet effective camera movement establish a harsh yet meditative world that we move through with a resigned, almost fatalistic sense of calm. Saulnier also displays his trademark aversion towards exposition and loquacious characters, doling out the backstory sparingly and choosing to do the character building in the moments where the actors' sentences trail off. Hell, there's literally a scene where an old buddy of Dwight's hands him a rifle and advises him to avoid making speeches before shooting! There's no need for reciting bible verses before the kill here.

By the time this lean, 90-minute tale of vengeance has run its course, you'll be sitting there, feeling like you've been hit by a truck and somehow survived. The plainspokenness of this film hides a deep emotional core, and if it feels like I'm being vague here, it's for a reason: this isn't really a film you read about, this is one you have to watch for yourself to get the full effect. So do yourself a favor and watch BLUE RUIN, which is currently streaming on Netflix. You can thank me later.