Blue Ruin

e_e

Out tomorrow. Saw it at JDIFF and it's a beautifully made, tense and darkly funny revenge thriller. Highly recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0XGOxFnm9A

Didn't expect to see this in cinemas over here so I ordered the VOD version only to see today that the IMC in Galway are showing it from tomorrow onward.

Really impressed by how IMC cinemas have been supporting small indie films, especially in Galway where the Eye cinema tries to trade on the fact that it's "Galways Art House" cinema, only they rarely get in anything that isn't a $90+ million dollar Hollywood release.

Decuc500

My favourite film from the Dublin Film Festival. It certainly is a beautifully shot and blackly humorous film. Best hillbilly revenge movie you'll see all year!

smellmepower

Saw this yesterday on a whim not having heard much about it.Can't recall seeing a new release with so much tension,I was watching behind my popcorn at times.Beautifully shot too and the snippets of dark humour are well crafted.

charlie_says

Definitely checking this one out in the cinema.

Looper007

smellmepower wrote: »

Saw this yesterday on a whim not having heard much about it.Can't recall seeing a new release with so much tension,I was watching behind my popcorn at times.Beautifully shot too and the snippets of dark humour are well crafted.

Saw it tonight and found it so gripping, one thing I loved most about it is Macon Blair as Dwight, in most films he would have been a ex marine or something and been superhero all out. In this everything he does is believable from the mess ups like

nearly getting killed from the older Cleland brother instead of shooting him from 5ft away

, he's a normal guy who put himself in dangerous situations he's clearly not able or cut out for.

The film is stolen from him nearly by Devin Ratray as his old friend Ben (he's Kevin's older brother Buzz in the Home Alone films), he has some of the most startling one liners and he has the scene of the film

That half of a head shot nearly scared me and whole audience as it came out of nowhere

. He came across like a Hillybilly Travis Bickle :pac:.

The one thing I was surprised about was the big crowd this pulled at my screening, it seems the good word of mouth has paid for this wonderful film. It's very slow but that's not a bad thing plus it's very violent in places but great performances and a tight solid structure helps this film to be one of the biggest surprises of 2014.

smellmepower

Looper007 wrote: »

Saw it tonight and found it so gripping, one thing I loved most about it is Macon Blair as Dwight, in most films he would have been a ex marine or something and been superhero all out. In this everything he does is believable from the mess ups like

nearly getting killed from the older Cleland brother instead of shooting him from 5ft away

, he's a normal guy who put himself in dangerous situations he's clearly not able or cut out for.

The film is stolen from him nearly by Devin Ratray as his old friend Ben (he's Kevin's older brother Buzz in the Home Alone films), he has some of the most startling one liners and he has the scene of the film

That half of a head shot nearly scared me and whole audience as it came out of nowhere

. He came across like a Hillybilly Travis Bickle :pac:.

The one thing I was surprised about was the big crowd this pulled at my screening, it seems the good word of mouth has paid for this wonderful film. It's very slow but that's not a bad thing plus it's very violent in places but great performances and a tight solid structure helps this film to be one of the biggest surprises of 2014.

I knew I recognised his friend from somewhere!I didn't think 'Buzz' was still an actor so it never crossed my mind that it was him.100% agree with his performance stealing the show.He could very have easily played that role for cheap laughs,but the way he deadpanned it was perfect.

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

Great stuff. A breath of fresh air after seeing so much crap lately.

Duggy747

Very good and tense film with a suspenseful start letting you piece together what's going on.

Highly recommended, best revenge film I've seen in years.

Hootanany

I did not rate it at all,really slow and never gets out of second gear.

e_e

Hootanany wrote: »

really slow

Phoenix Park

Hootanany wrote: »

I did not rate it at all,really slow and never gets out of second gear.

Completely agree. One of the most disappointing films i've seen in the last year. Like a poor mans Out Of The Furnace yet not even as good-and that is saying something given what a let down OOTF was.

I cannot understand the numerous 4 star reviews for Blue Ruin (though i've seen a couple of 2 star ones too). The storyline is very unoriginal and boring, how many family revenge movies can we take this year? Prisoners would be my pick of them, OOTF the most disappointing until this. Kevin Ratray was the only decent thing about it and while I did enjoy his performance overall the movie was totally forgettable and a complete let down. Final scene was an embarrassment.

e_e

Stylistically and tonally very different to Prisoners in fairness, they do entirely different things with a revenge theme. You could make the "it's been done to death!" argument with any genre too, it all depends on what the director does with it. I think we have a very compelling take here especially considering its low budget and humble origins. It's doing some far more interesting things both narratively and aesthetically than so many movies with 100s of times its budget.

While I've yet to watch the film I've never understood the criticism of a film for being too slow. Some of the finest films ever made are slow and never get out of second great and are all the better for it.

e_e

Yeah if anything more films should take time to develop story, character and theme. Way too many movies are in a hurry and then end up nowhere.

Warper

Sometimes when people say slow what they are really saying is its pretty crap at the start but gets better as it goes along

Hootanany

Yep Crap

e_e

I just can't comprehend how anyone can find it slow. Were you expecting a Jason Statham thriller or what? Even then every scene serves a purpose and the film is never stalling just for the sake of it.

AnonoBoy

I think some people might have been expecting a more action packed film when they heard it was a revenge film.

Although even if it wasn't to your tastes I don't see how anyone could truthfully think the film was crap.

I enjoyed it thoroughly.

TerrorFirmer

Really good movie. Would certainly not consider it slow - pacing was perfect in my opinion.

Devin Ratray was excellent in particular, both his performance and the scenes he appeared in.

johnny_ultimate

Solid genre fare, little more, little less.

There is an artfulness to the presentation even when the narrative feels like it is going through the motions. There's a very palatable tension from the off that keeps things interesting. The first half keeps the specifics tantalizingly vague. There's a refreshing awkwardness and groundedness to the action. It looks nice and cinematic for a film of its scale, although the visual style tends to drift fairly wildly between considered and a bit banal TBH. A subtle soundtrack lends an extra edge. Blair turns in a committed performance as a man willingly throwing himself into a bloody situation well outside his experience range. Although I think the film sells the actor a bit short with a character who at times is curiously enigmatic, at others something of a non-entity. It's an impressively jittery performance nonetheless.

I was left wanting more, though. A few minor surprises aside, it's a bog standard revenge story through and through, with set pieces that sadly reliably revert to very familiar tropes and tricks. There's little meat on these here bones, and the atmosphere and direction aren't quite strong enough for the film to completely lean on. Maybe I'm just spoiled by some of the far more provocative revenge films of recent years - Confessions, I Saw The Devil or a Touch of Sin (which is a searing, thematically fascinating twist on the genre) to name a few - but this can't help but feel a bit old hat in comparison. And on its own terms, it's perfectly decent and engaging fare. But it also feels rather hollow, never quite managing to surpass the limitations it imposes on itself.

shazzerman

A great thriller. As people have stated, it's good to see a film with a "normal guy" protagonist at its centre. Also, never thought I'd see Jan from "The Brady Bunch" (the TV series) brandishing a machine gun in an indie film...

Da Shins Kelly

Loved this movie. Don't really understand the 'slow' complaints. I think it goes along at a good pace and there are a couple of genuinely intense scenes where I was afraid to look. Thought the central performance was strong too.

Maybe people were expecting an action packed, thrill a minute revenge movie where the main character kills 20 guys with his bare fists in one go, but I was glad it didn't go that route. I thought it was a lot better for the gradual building of tension and the fact that the protagonist is quite clearly out of his depth. Thought it was an interesting take on the typical revenge narrative and felt quite real - I think most normal people who feel compelled to take bloody revenge wouldn't know the first thing about how to do it.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. I was completely engrossed throughout.

Looper007

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Loved this movie. Don't really understand the 'slow' complaints.

It's from people who are used to the Michael Bay MTV style of Editing, everything quick and fast.

Bipolar Joe

Looper007 wrote: »

It's from people who are used to the Michael Bay MTV style of Editing, everything quick and fast.

Welp, Michael Bay was mentioned. The thread reached it's apex, we can all stop now.

I really enjoyed this. I saw Macon Blair in Murder Party first, and instantly liked watching him act.

It is a slow moving film, but everything in it is their for a reason and pushes the story forward. I'm struggling to think of a scene that was unnecessary. I get why it wouldn't be everyones type of movie, but calling it crap isn't right, I don't think. I'm pretty sure Blue Ruin achieves exactly what it set out to, so there's a good argument for it being successful. After that it's down to whether or not you were entertained by it, and if you weren't, it's a taste thing.

e_e

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

It is a slow moving film

Is it really though? I saw it at JDIFF and compared to some of the stuff there it was like a rip-roaring rollercoaster ride.

Bipolar Joe

e_e wrote: »

Is it really though? I saw it at JDIFF and compared to some of the stuff there it was like a rip-roaring rollercoaster ride.

I feel that in order for one thing to be something, there has to be another thing to weigh it against. Blue Ruin is a thriller (According to IMDB) and revenge movie, and when those two words are together to describe a movie, things like Kill Bill, Taken, that one with Mel Gibson I forget the name of or whatever would be in the minds of probably the majority of people. As far as I can see, it's also been mis-marketed as an action movie for some reason. It does have some of the staples of action movies, I guess? People get shot, any ways.

Any ways, when you stack it up against other films it would have to contend with, genre wise, it's pretty slow. In comparison to Der Siebente Kontinent, it's fast as fuck. This post is already way too long and I'm not even sure I said what I mean properly, but there it is.

I actually ordered this on VOD when it was first released but never did get to watch it and been meaning to get around to it for months, decided to throw it on this afternoon at long last.

Blue Ruin is one of those low key revenge thrillers that strives to say something different. Traditionally cinematic revenge stories have been more of a celebration of violence than anything else. They use the act to showcase visceral scenes of torture and death yet rarely have anything interesting to say.

Blue Ruins strives to do something a little unexpected, it's tells a familiar tale of a loner whose entire life is defined by an act of violence two decades ago and whom has been unable to get on with his life. When we first meet Dwight he's living rough, eating from dumpsters and meandering through life with no purpose till the day he learns that the man responsible for a tragedy in his past is to be freed. What follows is a tale we've seen a dozen times before, a Dwight sets out on a vengeful quest for justice stirring up the past. The plot really couldn't be much simpler and it's through the simplicity of it that Blue Ruin is most striking. There's no bombastic score or over the top came work here, rather what we get is a raw, unshowy and rather depressing look at what can drive someone so far. Visually reminiscent of No Country for Old Women this is no frills fare that's all the more striking for it.

What is most striking in Blue Ruin is how violence is used. It's never fetishised and is always shocking. There's a finality to it that's hits home, it's sudden, unexpected and affects all involved. Dwight is not some hardened bad ass and as such his actions have consequences, they mold him and leave him scarred. For me the films most striking moment was the scene of Dwight returning home to clean up the broken glass and then posting his set of keys through the letter box. It's a beautifully tender moment where Dwight says good bye to the last shred of humanity, he knows that what he has done and will do mean that he no longer belongs in civilized humanity. Visually and thematically it's reminiscent of the finale of John Ford's The Searchers where Ethan turns his back and walks off into the unknown.

I can understand why so many people dislike the film, it does nothing new and for some the lack of gratuitous violence will be a turn off but for me that's what elevates the film. It's a genre picture that knows it's genre and rather than strive for originality it instead opts to tell an intelligent, well rounded story that knows the limitations of the genre and molds a pitch perfect story around those. One criticism I can't understand is that the film is slow, when criticism such as that are leveled at a genre picture I instantly assume that it's simply a case of a viewer unable to articulate their feelings. Calling Blue Ruin slow is akin to calling a film you don't understand pretentious, it's simply doesn't fit and comes across as misinformed.

Bipolar Joe

A film being slow doesn't mean the film is bad. I thought it was slow, and I loved it.

MakeEmLaugh

Watched this today on US Netflix. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

One question, though, for people who have seen it.

Dwight's childhood friend Ben tells him that there is a polaroid of the two of them as teenagers with a stripper, and Dwight looking nervous.

Later, before they embrace and part company, Dwight gets Ben to promise to burn the poloroid, if he finds it.

Anyone have any idea why Dwight does this? I know it's open to interpretation, but I'd like to hear some theories.

Dots1982

Watched it today, wasn't blown away but probably worth a watch.

The director is definitely one worth keeping an eye on.