by Jon Partridge
This is the second review of Green Room we’re running at Cinapse, you can read Ed’s take here. The reason for this is double coverage is simple. Jeremy Saulnier’s new film deserves your attention.
The film charts a punk band, the ‘Ain’t Rights’, touring the country, getting by on low paid gigs and siphoning gas from cars. Bassist Pat (Anton Yelchin), guitarist Sam (Alia Shawkat), drummer Reece (Joe Cole), and lead singer Tiger (Callum Turner) make up the band of protagonists. Desperate for cash, they take a gig at a Neo-Nazi bar. After a successful set, the band packs up to leave as Pat returns to the green room to retrieve a cell phone and walks in on a murder. The group are trapped in the room as the club owner Darcy (Patrick Stewart) attempts to ‘handle’ the escalating situation.
In Green Room, Saulnier abandons the personal angle that fueled the stunning Blue Ruin in favor of something more intricately constructed but no less affecting. A siege film at its core, Green Room is a tight thriller that builds with a frenzied precision.
This stripped down ‘siege film’ concept often exposes flaws in both the script, editing and performances due to it’s simplicity. Here there is not a fault to be seen, aside from an occasional wobble in Stewart’s American accent. The band being barricaded in a room and police craftily removed from the occasion allow Darcy to start the ‘cleanup operation’. Manipulation fails and so shotguns, machetes and attack dogs are thrown into the mix, with people on both sides being picked off. A familiar setup to be sure, but what unfolds is anything but. Everything is murky, no one’s safety is guaranteed, a constant sense of fear and uncertainty permeates the film.
The unease is aided by the grim and enclosed spaces within the club, exacerbated by the Nazi-inspired decorations. Saulnier and cinematographer Sean Porter build a dirty world but one with flairs of beauty from the exquisite framing and filters used. I was stunned at their ability to make a Nazi mosh-pit look beautiful, a tranquility across a group of hate filled individuals united by music.
Saulnier quickly establishes characters we can care about, helped by great performances from Yelchin, and co. Much attention has been paid to the presence of Stewart and his Darcy provides a quiet, calculating menace; the real threat rather than the blunt instruments at his command. Also noteworthy is Saulnier collaborator Macon Blair (also serving as executive producer) who adds a conflicted and human air to the Nazi side. What stands out is how this is really a case of people being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Performances and plot strands speak to a living, crafted world the band has stumbled into. The film communicates so much without the sacrifice of time, dialogue or plot. As such the pacing is immaculate, tension building to a point that you feel physically unhinged throughout the final act and long after the credits roll.
There are few directors working today who command my total faith in their work and Saulnier now has a place on that list. Saulnier took not just a step forward from Blue Ruin, but one in a different direction, playing to his strengths but pushing himself to new levels in a genre where he has defied predictability. Green Room is a sleek and brutal film, a masterclass in crafting tension. Whatever palette Saulnier draws from next, consider me first in line to buy a ticket.