99) Blue Ruin (2014)
A mysterious outsider’s quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.
9/10 – Off the back of winning the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, I got the chance to see Blue Ruin as my final film at the Sundance Film Festival in London. “Revenge Thriller” is a term I associate with some of the best Korean movies I’ve seen, and Taken, but those always include something “special” – Ex-military, captured for years, long choreographed fight scenes etc. This film has none of that. It is an honest but brutal portrayal of deep-seated emotional revenge. Dark and subdued, it manages to maintain a slow build of tension and violence as it splices with the occasional pieces of humour. The “special” aspect in this film, isn’t any one storyline characteristic, but the film itself. It’s director Jeremy Saulnier who began a career making corporate videos and adverts has found his calling. This is an incredible piece of work.
Available on VOD now and in UK cinemas this weekend.
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