Film Review – Blue Ruin

Revenge stories tend to celebrate violence, cashing in on the visceral appeal of righting wrongs with extreme aggression. “Blue Ruin” is a familiar tale of pent-up distaste, though writer/director Jeremy Saulnier works diligently to avoid expectations of stylish comeuppance, returning the drive of revenge to its most feral state, where gut-rot anxiety overpowers any fantasy of psychological liberation. An exceptionally composed and imagined film, “Blue Ruin” finds suffocating spaces of contemplation, doing a masterful job exposing the frightening yet functional steps of murder as it plays with the conventions of an operatic blood feud. Saulnier establishes himself as a major talent with “Blue Ruin,” displaying refreshing care for emotional wreckage and abrupt acts of violence. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com