Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves
My Rating: Loved It!
I'm so happy I was able to catch Blue Ruin at the Virginia Film Festival last year. I didn't know much about it other than that it was locally made in Virginia and that it was the VFF's finale, so to speak. And what a grand finale it was!
Blue Ruin is a simple revenge story. But even through it's simplicity, it defies many revenge story tropes. The main character, Dwight, is an all out wreck at the beginning of the movie. He lives in his car, and is assumedly jobless. His life is in complete and utter shambles. Turns out some years ago (I don't remember how many, maybe ten years ago) his parents were brutally murdered. He figures out that his parents murderer has now been released from prison, and he seeks out vengeance. Sounds like a normal revenge movie right? Wrong.
There's one huge thing that I think defies most revenge movies, but it's pretty important to the movie and I don't want to ruin it in this for anyone. Another obvious detail that sets this apart is that Dwight is a normal person just like you or me, who has no idea how to go about any of this. And that's refreshing to me. Usually in revenge movies, the main character turns out to be this huge badass. Well, Dwight is anything but that.
Blue Ruin is very bloody, very well made (especially for its small budget), often darkly comical, and is a very good film.