Blue Ruin
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Macon Blair, Amy Hargreaves, Devin Ratray and Kevin Kolack
Picturehouse Entertainment
Release Date: April 25, 2014

From certain indications one can begin to question very early on in Blue Ruin what exactly it is that is going on. For nearly the first fifteen minutes all dialogue has virtually vanished. The only discernible sounds are the occasional grunts and groans of a middle-aged homeless man scouring the Delaware beaches and carnivals for any remnant of already devoured food. This approach to begin a film this way is exceedingly rare in contemporary cinema. We are used to the huge spectacle films making an immediate, fantastical impact to lure us into their world. Seldom do such films resort to the tactic Blue Ruin employs so effortlessly. Director Jeremy Saulnier, who also shot and scripted the film, conceals the film’s penchant for violence only for so long until he finally finds it necessary to violently plunge us forward into a world littered with individuals with many irredeemable qualities.