Green Room Review

Jeremy Saulnier knows tension, he knows how to take something that feels well-worn and injects it with something dark, violent, bloody and bloody good. His last feature was the film Blue Ruin which completely reinvigorated the revenge thriller and introduced a fascinating screen presence in the form of Macon Blair. Saulnier now brings us Green Room which features a young punk band who perform a gig at neo-nazi club, they stumble upon something they shouldn’t which leads to a violent stand-off in increasingly violent circumstances.

                The set-up to this film is one that’s been seen before, what’s brilliant about it is the way that Saulnier manages the escalation of the situation. The slow build up to the first moment of shocking on screen violence is incredibly intense; it’s that tension that gives the violence a far more powerful affect. As with Blue Ruin Saulnier has an incredible talent of undercutting genre tropes, he’s able to bring the subject matter down to a more real world aesthetic, there’s no grand plan from the band once they’re trapped in the room, they come up with a new plan every couple of minutes and when they put the plans into practice they consistently fail. The sense of havoc is also felt in those enacting the violence there’s a high sense of pressure and their panic at the situation getting out of hand is just as prevalent.

                Macon Blair returns for his third collaboration with Saulnier, Blair is impressive in a smaller role as a man who clearly feels out of place within the neo-nazi setting, his face is exceptionally expressive and he holds so much confliction between faux-authority and panic. The band all put in decent performances, the most notable of which is Anton Yelchin as the bands guitarist who is essentially the lead of the film, Yelchin shows all the reasons he’ll be sadly missed since his recent death, he’s brilliant at portraying emotionally vulnerable but driven characters. The problem with the band is the chemistry, though individually they seem good they don’t entirely convince you that they’re a band, they come across as just a little too mismatched. Then there is the most interesting piece of casting in the film, the neo-nazi leader played by none other than Sir Patrick Stewart. It’s fascinating casting but his sense of calm and seniority works entirely well, he’s quietly terrifying.

                There’s a lot about this film that might put people off, most notably the violence. Saulnier needs to be lauded for treating genre films with the respect that they deserve, he shows respect to those that have gone before but also offers something completely fresh. Its intense, beautifully shot and well-acted, can’t wait to see what he does next. (5 Stars)