Friday, April 25, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Blue Ruin - NYC Premier - BAM
Macon Blair (left) and Jeremy Saulnier (right) at the New York premier of Blue Ruin at BAM |
When I first met Jeremy Saulnier, he was selling me shoes
at a stoop sale on our block Brooklyn. He told me they were props in a movie he
made called Murder Party, and that as such they were very valuable. I bought the shoes, and later rented his movie
and I loved it. I saw Jeremy walking his dogs a couple weeks later and chatted
him up and somehow after that we became friends.
In the years since Murder Party, Jeremy has shot tons of
stuff for other people, most notably pairing with Matt Porterfield as the
Director of Photography on a number of his films including Putty Hill and I
Used To Be Darker. The New Yorker described those efforts thusly:
“...their collaboration is as
fruitful and as essential as that of Jean-Luc Godard and Raoul Coutard in the
nineteen-sixties, in that it’s not about lighting but, rather, about light.
Saulnier’s daring attention to light and acceptance of shadow (no mere stunt
but an essential aspect of Porterfield’s compositions and, for that matter,
emotional world) should be a model for young directors of photography
everywhere.”
After many years
of making other people’s films, Jeremy set about making another of his own. He says it
was a last-ditch effort to prove he belonged as a filmmaker. He would serve
as writer, director of photography, and director. He cast his lifelong friend, Macon Blair, as the lead. He shot the film on
a tight budget, cleaning out his savings and calling in favors. He bet the house to make Blue Ruin, and his gamble has paid off.
Blue Ruin debuted as Cannes as part of their Directors’
Fortnight and within hours of its first screening was acquired by a major
distributor. After almost a year on the festival circuit and a steady stream of
awards and feature articles, the film had its New York premier last night at
BAM in a theater filled with cast and crew, family and friends.
I was thrilled to
be there and to get to finally see the film I’d been hearing about for so long, and it exceeded all expectations. As expected for Saulnier, it looks absolutely gorgeous, and at times, delightfully gory. Blair is amazing as Dwight, the ungainly
assassin. A revenge genre film at its core, the story is kept tight and tensions
run high from beginning to end, but it’s not without moments of poetry and dark comedy
and thoughtful introspection.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
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