When you describe the plot of “Blue
Ruin” it doesn't sound like very much. When you describe the cast it
sounds like even less; the most famed actors in it are Jan
from “The Brady Bunch” and Buzz from “Home Alone”, and only in brief supporting roles. The
dialogue, usually is the aspect of a film that most appeals to
me, isn't very interesting and in fact may be more sparse
than in any movie I can think of that didn't involve cavemen....... but
for my money “Blue Ruin” is the best movie of 2014. And there is
nothing else that really comes close.
Macon Blair (so unheralded that as of this writing he has
only 1700 Twitter followers) is Dwight Evans, a timid Delaware
vagrant trying to get through life on the smallest scale possible.
He doesn't want to be noticed by anyone and does everything possible to stay
out of the line of sight. His blue ruin is a bullet riddled,
beat-to-hell old Pontiac that he lives in on the beach. We find all this
out about Dwight before we hear him utter even a single word on screen.
Succinct, concise film-making and a great, subtle performance from
Blair lay this out for us so we have a clear background picture of
the character before the plot even begins to unfold.
When it does, we learn that Dwight
fell away from society many years ago after his parents were murdered.
He simply vanished and left everyone and everything behind. But now
he learns that his parents' killer is about to be released from
prison. He decides he needs to avenge his parents and despite his timidity and general lack of any idea of how to accomplish it, Dwight goes
off to murder the murderer.
Without giving too much away, Dwight is
initially successful in his attempt only to find out that the family
he is messing with has far more in common with the Hatfields and
McCoys than the aforementioned Brady Bunch. They decide to keep the police out of things and settle all
scores on their own. Left with little choice and virtually no
resources Dwight has to figure out a way to live through
this, or at least make sure they leave his long-lost sister and her
family alone.
I can't describe how wonderfully this
film tells Dwight's story. Jeremy Saulnier's direction is brilliant
in its simplicity - he mostly just lets it all unfold. There are no voice-overs or muddy
attempts to explain what is going on at any time, and when there is
confusion on the part of the viewer about what is happening
or who we are looking at, it solves itself through what we see on the screen. Completely without pretense and using no
pyrotechnics or special effects, this is the ultimate minimalist
revenge film. Nobody is a kung-fu expert, there isn't a single
character that can crack into CIA files to find information, and basic
human need is always the motivation.
Alternately abhorrent and embracing of
the violence necessary to the plot, and far better at building tension
than a thousand horror films, “Blue Ruin” is one of those great
needle-in-the-haystack finds. You may have walked in expecting little, but you walk away with a genuinely wonderful movie
experience. Macon Blair plays the part perfectly, using his hang
dog looks to always convey his “I really wish I was somewhere else” attitude throughout. Devon Ratray (Buzz from “Home
Alone”) is surprisingly good as a childhood friend of Dwight's
and everyone else does credible work as well. But it is the story
that draws you into "Blue Ruin" and carries you along.
I sincerely don't expect this film
to get much (if any) notice from the Academy in February, deserving or
not. Little films like this never are. But it is, mark my words,
the best movie of 2014. If you have any opportunity to see it, don't
pass it up. It is remarkable.
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