Back in 2007, SF Indie played Jeremy Saulnier’s riotous horror comedy Murder Party, and after making a name for himself as a cinematographer in the interim - most notably for the dreamy narratives of Matthew Porterfield (Putty Hill) - Saulnier now returns to the director’s seat, with frequent collaborator Macon Blair turning in a transfixing performance as Blue Ruin’s damaged lead, Dwight.
Dwight is a soft-spoken, somewhat shell-shocked beach hobo who lives in his blue car on the west coast, just trying to keep his head down and limit interactions with the outside world. When he is informed by a sympathetic cop that the man imprisoned for murdering his parents has just been released, Dwight vows to get revenge, and sets off on a road trip back to his old haunts to give the killer a different kind of homecoming.
“[Saulnier’s] dark revenge tale flaunts its small-town strangeness, but it also keeps a sharp eye on the human beings at the story’s center. Blue Ruin may occasionally be midnight-movie lurid, but not at the expense of deeper questions about vengeance’s diminishing returns.” (Tim Grierson, Paste Magazine)
-Kier-la Janisse