Green Room marks the second of writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s blood-drenched thrillers to have premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. You may have heard whispers about 2013’s Blue Ruin as it trickled out of the festival circuit, lauded by audiences and critics alike as a paradigm of the vigilante genre. Now Saulnier takes on the backwoods, pitting some young punk rockers against a group of white supremacists.
It’s kind of an ingenious pairing when you think about it. Punk is known for its loud f-you to the establishment, and there’s few establishments more rigid and out-of-date than violent white supremacy. It’s a natural clash, and I have no problem imagining their stand-off escalating to wildly bloody proportions.
What often catches people’s attention about Saulnier’s films is their style. A cinematographer by trade, Saulnier is comfortable moving well beyond the familiar shot set-ups of the genre, giving audiences a dose of originality with their formulaic beats. Look at how the camera moves with the characters in this trailer, how it plays with shadows. We’re often left seeing a character’s reaction to events, not necessarily the events themselves. I’m sure Saulnier will deliver plenty of grisly goodness in this film, but he also clearly understands that not seeing everything only heightens the suspense.
The film’s garnered some rave reviews so far, and with the slow-building success of Blue Ruin and an upgraded cast, Green Room feels poised for a breakout.
Green Room is directed by Jeremy Saulnier and stars Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Patrick Stewart. It will be released in the U.S. on April 15th, 2016 and in the U.K. on May 13th, 2016. International release dates can be found here.
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