Blue Ruin (2014)

Haven't had time to muse lately, as the factory where I work has its ruthless talons embedded into all of the employees there, myself included. Which leaves me little precious hours.

But I HAVE had time to enjoy my favorite movie of the year, over and over and over again. Nope, it's not The Lego Movie (which is outstanding and my #2, by the way). My favorite movie of 2014 is an indie shocker called Blue Ruin, people. Blue Ruin. Recommended to me personally by the great Zodiac Motherfucker.

The story (around 90 minutes, which is the gold standard for movie run-times IMO) couldn't be any more simple. Dwight, a bum living in his car on the beach in Delaware, collects bottles and cans for chump change. He also busts into people's houses and trash to eke out a miserable existence. Dwight gets picked up by a friendly police officer, whereupon he learns that the man who murdered his parents years ago is about to be released from a Virginia prison as part of a plea deal.

At this point I've got to mention that Dwight (BRILLIANTLY played by newcomer Macon Blair) is a burned-out, traumatized, shell of a person at the beginning of the film. He wanders the beach, ill-fitting clothes he's scrounged on himself, like a wraith. A long-haired ghoul, almost. I've only seen one effective portrayal of the "shell of a person" motif in all the movies I've ever watched in my 30 years on this planet, and that was in a Japanese war movie called Fires on the Plain. Observe the similarity.

Anyway, once Dwight gets the news, he gets his beat-up junker running and is off like a wild animal out of his cage. He's mission-oriented and running completely on instinct, out for revenge against his parents' murderer, Wade Cleland. But as determined and industrious Dwight is, he has no financial resources as a derelict. Also, the people he intends to face are career killers and criminals. Dwight is not, and is way out of his league. He just doesn't have it in him.

When his efforts to acquire a firearm fail miserably, Dwight is forced to track down and kill his quarry with a knife in a seedy bar bathroom. In broad daylight. On the day Wade is released from prison. With the Cleland family waiting just outside the toilets.

Dwight does not expect to survive this encounter, and is astonished he has done so. "I thought he would kill me first," Dwight later tells his sister, when he painfully admits to her what he has done.

Not going to say much else to spoil Blue Ruin for you, but I will say what happens to Dwight afterwards perfectly defines the term COLLISION COURSE. Dwight is inept and horribly, woefully unprepared for what happens after he murders Wade Cleland. He is not the stoic, hardscrabble, taciturn characters in No Country For Old Men. Not by a fucking long shot. He's human. He's scared shitless. And as such, Dwight royally fucks up, very badly and very frequently.

Just go watch Blue Ruin, people. You won't be disappointed.