Writer: Jeremy Saulneir
Cast: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves
A mysterious outsider's quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood town to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.
Film was crowd-funded through kickstarter and was screened at the Cannes where it won the FIPRESCI prize. Macon Blair plays the awkward assassin and the fact that he is not a well known actor helps us to relate to him imagining it to be how we will also behave if we dare to do it. I was reminded of the Malayalam film 'Thazhvaram' which was also a revenge film. I liked Thazhvaram but thought it would have been a greater film if they hadn't shown the flashback to justify the revenge act.
In Blue Ruin the back story is not shown but alluded to by the characters in their conversations. The film loses its steam in terms of the intrigue as it progresses with the characters and their motivations established. Still its a great watch. The great thing about it is that even though the protagonist has a noble end, if we think about it, we will realize that he fucked up big time by creating a needless shitstorm. To be fair he had no way of knowing.
Rating: 3.5/5
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