Features

Top 3 Critics’ Picks In Theaters this April: Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin

Published on April 1, 2014

Blue Ruin – Jeremy Saulnier
Limited Release – April 25th
Distributor: RADiUS-TWC
Awards & Fests: FIPRESCI PRIZE Cannes 2013 (Directors’ Fortnight), Locarno, Deauville, TIFF, Rotterdam, Sundance.

What the critic’s are saying?: A truly visceral cinematic experience that’ll have some wincing uncomfortably, as Variety’s Justin Chang underlines, this “carefully exploiting the audience’s fear of what it can’t (or can only partially) see, Saulnier’s shallow-focus widescreen compositions amp up the suspense at key intervals.” Screen Daily’s Allan Hunter makes the comparison that several other critics have mentioned in their analysis of the film: “There are still enough brutal deaths and gallows humour to satisfy most fans but the more measured approach and lean, well-crafted execution should allow it to reach the kind of wider audience who once embraced Blood Simple and early Coen brothers titles.”

Related Topics:Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier, Top 3 of the Month, top-stories

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).