One of the most quietly impressive crime films of recent years, Jeremy Saulnier's magnificent Blue Ruin was one of the surprise hits of 2013. A bravura first film, Blue Ruin features a blistering central performance from relative newcomer, Macon Blair. Playing Dwight, Blair returns to his childhood home to carry out an uncharecteristic act of vengeance. When things go awry, Dwight proves himself an amateur assassin as he struggles to protect his estranged family. By putting the aforementioned act of violence in the film's first act, Blue Ruin essentially becomes about the aftermath. Notable for a couple of instances of shocking, brutal violence, Blue Ruin is too a gorgeous film to look at, with a tracking shot of a fair lit-up against the night a particular highlight. Unique in it's depiction of an avenger who is far from accomplished, Blue Ruin works because it shows what it might actually look like if a normal man decided he had to act like a movie star.
