GREEN ROOM: Got a Little Fight in You

Earlier this week, a freak accident took the life of twenty-seven year old actor Anton Yelchin. This review was written before the accident, but I have since edited it to put more of a spotlight on Yelchin's incredible contributions. His career was about to explode, and it would have undoubtedly been long and accomplished. Unfortunately, we are relegated to looking back for his greatest artistic achievements, and Green Room is certainly one of them.

Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Writer: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart, Joe Cole, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Mark Webber, Macon Blair
95 mins.
2016

Thusfar Jeremy Saulnier's career consists of tense slow burn ruminations on the way that violence begets violence that also have a color in their title. He kicked this off with the 2014 film Blue Ruin. First films rarely conduct themselves with such swagger, but Blue Ruin lives up to the mellifluousness of its title. With Green Room, his sophomore effort, Saulnier makes it clear that he is a talent who will continue to demand attention. I am certain there are those who prefer the melancholy of Blue Ruin, but for my money Saulnier has topped himself here.

The story can be boiled down as follows: a punk band accidentally witnesses something they shouldn't witness at a backwoods venue--a venue that is actually a front for a cabal of neo-nazis led by the incomparable Patrick Stewart as Darcy. As a result, they are locked in the green room as both our heroes and their relentlessly pragmatic and levelheaded antagonists try to figure out how best to handle the situation.

The term "thriller" often gets bandied about without a second glance, but Green Room truly thrills. Or at least thralls. From about half an hour in, the film had its tendrils firmly wound around my gut. Not once does it let go until the credits roll. Blue Ruin is the essentialized version of the sentiment: "What is going to happen next??" I cannot remember experiencing quite this brand of continually ratcheted stakes since Breaking Bad went off the air.


It accomplishes this by honing its attention to detail to a razor's edge. Saulnier understands that for action to be compelling, the stakes, motivations, and scenic elements need be crystal clear. Green Room's triumph is its continual insistence on laying out the pieces of every scene like a magician demonstrating exactly what tools are at her disposal. We are made to know exactly how each situation stands. Okay, so most of the Nazis are locked out except for one Nazi guard, but our heroes are being held at gunpoint. Conflict occurs. Okay, now one of the heroes is badly injured, but the guard is unconscious and now we have a gun, three bullets, and a fire extinguisher. One protagonist is having a panic attack and one is excellent at wrestling grips. Outside they have dogs. Conflict occurs. We've lost the gun, but gained some knowledge about our enemies we didn't have before, etc. etc. The movie practically begs you to project what you would do in this situation with these exact tools, yet it nearly always manages to shake the situation out in a completely unexpected way.

Saulnier has no compunctions about brutality either. Once you realize nobody is safe, you cease to feel safe as a viewer. Of course, this wouldn't matter in the slightest if you had no connection to the main characters. Fortunately Saulnier has assembled an excellent cast full of relatively-unknowns and up-and-comers; he also gives these characters breathing room at the beginning of the movie to establish their relationships.

As you never quite know who is going to bite the dust, there is no main character per se--at least not at first. But perhaps the most recognizable performers are Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Anton Yelchin. Poots and Shawkat both turn in great work--it's nice to see Shawkat doing some solid dramatic genre work after her iconic role as Maeby in Arrested Development.

Yelchin, meanwhile, steals the show. The first impression his character Pat gives is one of frailty and hysteria. We've seen this a million times before in horror; he is the nervous nellie who puts all his friends in jeopardy. It's an age old cliche. But that's not Yelchin's end game. As the film progresses, we see him steadily working up to subverting that cliche in what amounts to an incredible character arc about survival and inner strength in the face of adversity. Yelchin's small, unassuming presence better allows him to play characters with surprising reserves of strength. He is an action hero of the most complex, unexpected variety. In any work I've seen of his, he does his best to fill every onscreen moment with verve and pathos.

It should go without saying that Patrick Stewart plays an iconic villain who dominates the screen every time he steps into frame.

Green Room has so much more to offer than your typical genre schlock. The plotting sings, and it propels the viewer through a demented exploration of toxic subcultures. If only more thrillers gave such detailed care to their craft.

4 / 5  BLOBS