Blood is thicker than water and all over Blue Ruin, a gruesome thriller about a family feud that just keeps amassing casualties on either side.
Brilliantly shot and staged by director-cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier (who also wrote the script), the film locates the sweet spot between poised art cinema and exploitation-flick pandering and hits it over and over again; what keeps Blue Ruin from simply being a bludgeoning experience is Saulnier's cleverness in knowing precisely how and when to throw his haymakers.
The film's title refers to the dilapidated Pontiac that serves as a mobile home for Dwight Evans (Macon Blair), a thirtysomething, righteously bearded Virginian, but also evokes an overall state of decay. Blair is excellent in the lead, but the filmmaking is the true star here.