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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2014 THIS WEEK 34 St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Billy Elliot the musical – Live 15:00 20,000 Days on Earth - Nick Cave 19:00 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 A Walk Among the Tombstones (15) 10:10, 13:15, 16:00, 18:35, 21:15 Lucy (15) 10:00, 12:05, 14:15, 16:25, 18:40, 20.50 Guardians of the Galaxy (12A) 15:45, 21:10 The Boxtrolls (U) 10:30, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30 Sex Tape (15) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Before I Go to Sleep (15) 14:00, 16:15, 18:35, 21:00 The 100-Year-Old Man (12A) 18:35, 20:50 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 A Walk Among the Tombstones (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 Let's be Cops (15) 14:10, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:35 What If? (15) 14:20, 16:30, 18:50, 21:10, 23:20 Step Up 5: All In (PG) 20:45, 23:10 The Boxtrolls (U) 14:10, 16:20, 18:30, 20:45, 22:55 The Nut Job (U) 14:15, 16:20, 18:30 Life of Crime (15) 14:15, 16:30, 18:45, 21:05, 23:10 Lucy (15) 14:20, 16:25, 18:50, 21:05, 23:10 Into the Storm (12A) 14:20, 16:25, 18:45, 20:50, 23:00 Guardians of the Galaxy (12A) 14:00, 18:30, 23:00 Sex Tape (15) 14:20, 16:30, 18:50, 21:00, 23:05 Before I Go to Sleep (15) 14:25, 16:30, 18:45, 20:55, 23:00 Blue Ruin (15) 14:20, 16:20, 18:45, 20:50, 23:00 Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (18) 18:50 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Nut Job (U) 11:00, 15:45, 13:40 Lucy (15) 11:10, 13:30, 18:00, 20:50 Sex Tape (15) 11:00, 15:50, 18:10, 21:00 A Walk Among the Tombstones (15) 11:05, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 20:50 Billy Elliot The Musical – Live 14:30, 19:30 THEY say that revenge is a dish best served cold, but what if you're not nearly cold enough to live up to that basic criterion? Blue Ruin lends a fresh twist to the revenge thriller tradition by resisting the urge to make its protagonist into an unstoppable force of righteous vengeance. Instead, our man, Dwight Evans (played by newcomer Macon Blair) is a grieving but other- wise normal man whose thirst for revenge may be very palpable indeed, but whose combat experi- ence is limited at best. This leads to situations that are both comical and genuinely frightening, with director Jeremy Saulnier stripping the story down to its bare essentials and telling it with an eye towards realism. But its overall contours are ge- neric; which is comforting and frustrating at the same time. Dwight (Blair) has taken to sleeping rough it seems – we first meet him while he's taking a bath in a house we soon discover isn't his. Hearing the door, he makes a quick dash for the window and es- capes in his car. The next morn- ing, a concerned police officer lets him in on some information that jolts him out of his vagrant cocoon: the man who murdered his parents will be getting re- leased that week. Armed with a newfound sense of purpose and very little else, Dwight sets about amassing in- formation about his target, Wade Cleland, and his family's wherea- bouts. He also sets about amass- ing weaponry… before realising that life, sadly, is not like the movies on this count… not even close. There's something purple and melodramatic about the film's title – it's a catchy but oblique in- dicator of what actually goes on in the film, the 'blue' a too-easy metaphor for dredging sadness. Thankfully, however, this is the only real jolt of pretentious- ness to mar Saulnier's film – pre- tentiousness being a too-easy trap for a beginning filmmaker to make, especially one operat- ing with Saulnier's maverick ap- proach (debuting in Cannes, Blue Ruin was partly crowd-funded – that's how indie it is, baby). In fact, the film gets most of its mileage out of resisting glamour and show-off y f lourishes. A lot of this is down to Macon Blair's sub- dued performance, which makes him endearing at first, but ulti- mately works to cultivate a genu- ine creepiness in the character. You're meant to mistake him for a vagrant at the beginning, and you will. His mottled beard is almost like a Cronenbergian creature: latching on to his face and – we gradually realise – serving to hide his vulnerability. It's probably the most economical use of a cos- metic set piece in recent years. It makes him look like a volatile va- grant – just the kind of unhinged killing machines whose type the film is playing directly against. That it's an enduring sub-genre is unquestionable: as if to take Blue Ruin's innovative spin to task, Denzel Washington will be back on our screens as 'The Equalizer' soon – a TV series ad- aptation which appears adamant to slavishly stick to the revenge- thriller book. But however much Saulnier strives for innovation, however much the details of the thing feel fresh, the over-aching beats of the plot match their mainstream counterparts, for better or for worse. I'm inclined to say 'for better' since this means the audience gets some emotional payoff – the finely-tuned melancholy atmos- phere leading to some bona fide catharsis at the end too. But it's sad that Saulnier plays it safe with his secondary characters too. Given that it's a solo affair for most of its running time, the fact that we're given standard issue hillbilly antagonists at the end feels like a bit of a cheat. If there's a case for an actor's eyes carrying a film, this is it. Blair's mournful orbs cut through even his wet, tangled beard. It's probably thanks to them that the film can go on for so long with- out any dialogue. They tell us all we need to know about Dwight's ambivalent mix of anger and sad- ness. But the time-capsule value of the film is down to its treatment of violence. Most revenge thrill- ers work their audiences into a lather to expect bursts of vio- lence: they are treats at the end of a gritty road – finally, some retri- bution for the hero's suffering, we are led to think, as we revel in the bursting – and crackling – f lesh on display. To wit: manually removing an arrow lodged in your thigh is probably not a good idea. Despite what the likes of Denzel Wash- ington have led you believe. Blue Ruin will be showing at Eden Cinemas until September 30 FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic Fumbling his way to revenge ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ SHOO-IN ★ ★ ★ ★ BREWING ★ ★ ★ FLUID ★ ★ STUPID ★ RUIN Thicker than water: Newcomer Macon Blair impresses as the vengeful – but incompetent – Dwight Evans in this soon-to-be- cult revenge thriller BLUE RUIN (15) ★ ★ ★ ★ YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt