Green Room - directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Ali Shawkat, Patrick Stewart, Joe Cole, Macon Blair, Callum Turner, David W Thompson, Mark Webber, Eric Edelstein, Brent Werzner, Taylor Tunes
Screenplay: Jeremy Saulnier
My first movie in this years Auckland International Film Festival is one that I have been hearing good things about for a while.
"Green Room" is a film about a punk band that plays a low rent gig at a bar frequented by skinheads and while collecting their money in the green room witness a crime that puts them at odds with the colourful collection of friendly neighbourhood racists.
The film is notable for a few things.
Chiefly the casting of Patrick Stewart as the leader of the neo-Nazi, the extreme violence and sadly for being one of the first screen appearances since the unfortunate death of Anton Yelchin.
After an hilarious opening shot we are introduced to Yelchin's band.
Pat, Tiger, Reece and Sam - three men and a woman.
They are low on funds and are travelling and living in a van.
They syphon petrol to keep the vehicles on the road and will play wherever they can.
Early on they answer an interviewers question about their lack of marketing by explaining that anything other the purity of the live performance compromises their art.
Arguably the greater compromise is only get $6 for their performance that same night.
Finding themselves painfully short on money even by their own standards the interviewer takes pity and arranges them to play at his cousins place.
It is at this venue that band finds themselves trapped in the green room.
Yelchin effectively plays the lead role here and his casting is inspired.
He has a youthful naivety about him that may seem at odds with his lead guitarist in a punk band character but it turns out to be vital.
Early on Yelchin's Pat is severely wounded and takes a bat seat in the physical action.
However he takes very much the centre stage in terms of the dialogue and the influencing of the action.
Pat is an everyman - very much out of his depth when things turn violent.
The band may sing about being badasses and doing anti-social things but in reality they are out of their depth when confronted by true hatred.
And how wonderfully this is represented by Patrick Stewart as Darcy - owner of the bar and leader of a band of well organised Neo-Nazi thugs.
Stewart never raises his voice - always appears in control knowing exactly how to handle any situation.
The performance strikes a wonderful balance of admirable qualities to truly despicable ones.
You never side with him - Darcy is a horrible human being through and through - and I wanted him dead within minutes of meeting the character.
And that has to be the sign of a well played villain.
The performances are all spot on - I liked Imogen Poots playing of Amber immensely.
She de-glams (just a bit) and gets some great moments and lines.
The chemistry between her and Yelchin is also very good as it was when they worked on the underrated "Fright Night".
But then she seems to find a connection with her co-stars in every role that I have seen her in.
The violence is indeed as brutal as you may have heard but it isn't so much the graphic nature of it that is noteworthy - more the suddenness and impactful finality of it.
Characters tend to check out without any lead up or warning.
They are in the wrong place at the wrong time or make a foolish decision and it is over for them.
There is an excellent mid sentence death that made the entire audience react and the first real example of violence caused a ripple of "Oooh" throughout the cinema.
For all of the shock value in the graphic violence it aids the tension immeasurably.
Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier's excellent second feature "Blue Ruin" used violence as the central theme and does so again here.
As a viewer the film forces you to ponder what you would do in the situation that the band mates find themselves in.
With the violence so in your face and hard to ignore there are no easy outs.
It is not possible to shy away from the consequences of violent acts when they are shown so vividly.
This makes for a tense and compelling 95 minutes.
There are moments of humour and the very last line of the film is a doozy but these lighter moments are not so frequent that they defuse any of the tension.
This was a strong start to the festival for me.
I liked "Green Room" a whole lot.
If you can stomach the gruelling violence you are in for a good time with this film.
Saulnier's direction is tight with only a few lapses where I felt he made poor choices with cuts.
(Stewart's introduction seems to designed to tease its big casting coup but then blows it in the very next shot)
These are minor criticisms though in light of all that does work well.
This is an absolute thrill show of a move though and if "Blue Ruin" wasn't ample enough indication that this director is one to watch then "Green Room" certainly, most definitely is.
RATING: 80 / 100
CONCLUSION: A lean, mean movie that doesn't forgo fun despite brutal violence and sparse (but effective) humour. Thrilling.
Screenplay: Jeremy Saulnier
Music Score by: Brooke Blair & Will Blair
Cinematography: Sean Porter
Edited by: Julia Bloch
Running Time: 95 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R18 - brutal, frequent violence & some profanity
Cinematography: Sean Porter
Edited by: Julia Bloch
Running Time: 95 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R18 - brutal, frequent violence & some profanity
My first movie in this years Auckland International Film Festival is one that I have been hearing good things about for a while.
"Green Room" is a film about a punk band that plays a low rent gig at a bar frequented by skinheads and while collecting their money in the green room witness a crime that puts them at odds with the colourful collection of friendly neighbourhood racists.
The film is notable for a few things.
Chiefly the casting of Patrick Stewart as the leader of the neo-Nazi, the extreme violence and sadly for being one of the first screen appearances since the unfortunate death of Anton Yelchin.
After an hilarious opening shot we are introduced to Yelchin's band.
Pat, Tiger, Reece and Sam - three men and a woman.
They are low on funds and are travelling and living in a van.
They syphon petrol to keep the vehicles on the road and will play wherever they can.
Early on they answer an interviewers question about their lack of marketing by explaining that anything other the purity of the live performance compromises their art.
Arguably the greater compromise is only get $6 for their performance that same night.
Finding themselves painfully short on money even by their own standards the interviewer takes pity and arranges them to play at his cousins place.
It is at this venue that band finds themselves trapped in the green room.
 |
| It's Punks versus White Supremacists |
He has a youthful naivety about him that may seem at odds with his lead guitarist in a punk band character but it turns out to be vital.
Early on Yelchin's Pat is severely wounded and takes a bat seat in the physical action.
However he takes very much the centre stage in terms of the dialogue and the influencing of the action.
Pat is an everyman - very much out of his depth when things turn violent.
The band may sing about being badasses and doing anti-social things but in reality they are out of their depth when confronted by true hatred.
And how wonderfully this is represented by Patrick Stewart as Darcy - owner of the bar and leader of a band of well organised Neo-Nazi thugs.
Stewart never raises his voice - always appears in control knowing exactly how to handle any situation.
The performance strikes a wonderful balance of admirable qualities to truly despicable ones.
You never side with him - Darcy is a horrible human being through and through - and I wanted him dead within minutes of meeting the character.
And that has to be the sign of a well played villain.
The performances are all spot on - I liked Imogen Poots playing of Amber immensely.
She de-glams (just a bit) and gets some great moments and lines.
The chemistry between her and Yelchin is also very good as it was when they worked on the underrated "Fright Night".
But then she seems to find a connection with her co-stars in every role that I have seen her in.
Characters tend to check out without any lead up or warning.
They are in the wrong place at the wrong time or make a foolish decision and it is over for them.
There is an excellent mid sentence death that made the entire audience react and the first real example of violence caused a ripple of "Oooh" throughout the cinema.
For all of the shock value in the graphic violence it aids the tension immeasurably.
Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier's excellent second feature "Blue Ruin" used violence as the central theme and does so again here.
As a viewer the film forces you to ponder what you would do in the situation that the band mates find themselves in.
With the violence so in your face and hard to ignore there are no easy outs.
It is not possible to shy away from the consequences of violent acts when they are shown so vividly.
This makes for a tense and compelling 95 minutes.
There are moments of humour and the very last line of the film is a doozy but these lighter moments are not so frequent that they defuse any of the tension.
 |
| Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart and far right- Stewart with Macon Blair |
I liked "Green Room" a whole lot.
If you can stomach the gruelling violence you are in for a good time with this film.
Saulnier's direction is tight with only a few lapses where I felt he made poor choices with cuts.
(Stewart's introduction seems to designed to tease its big casting coup but then blows it in the very next shot)
These are minor criticisms though in light of all that does work well.
This is an absolute thrill show of a move though and if "Blue Ruin" wasn't ample enough indication that this director is one to watch then "Green Room" certainly, most definitely is.
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