Sightlines · reception

How Blue Ruin was received

2014 · Jeremy Saulnier · Blue Ruin on Sightlines

The arc

It premiered in Cannes' Directors' Fortnight in 2013 and won the FIPRESCI critics' prize. On release it was a critical darling but a small indie, and it's now remembered as the film that launched Jeremy Saulnier on the way to Green Room.

What’s debated

Fans argue over whether its bumbling, painfully un-heroic avenger is the smartest takedown of the revenge movie in years, or whether the film is too bleak and too slow to be much fun.

Its footprint

It's the go-to example of the 'realistic revenge movie', the one people name when a thriller shows that a regular guy is terrible at violence. It also made Macon Blair's sad-eyed, bearded face a cult image.

Where it stands

A cult favourite among indie-thriller fans that's still climbing: it shows up again and again on 'underseen revenge films' and 'best 2010s thrillers' lists, often as the gateway to Green Room.

Did you know? Saulnier and his lead, Macon Blair, were childhood friends who made amateur movies together growing up in Virginia. Saulnier also shot the film himself, and part of the budget came from his own savings plus a Kickstarter campaign.