'Blu-ray or Bust'
GREEN ROOM (2016, R, 95 minutes, A24/BROAD GREEN PICTURES)
Recently, the world lost a true talent, one which shone in
many of the roles he played.
Anton Yelchin (of the STAR TREK reboots, and, one of my
favorites of his, CHARLIE BARTLETT) died tragically young. Besides the
occasional turd of a movie (BURYING THE EX, ODD THOMAS), he was at his best
when he had artists of equal caliber in the project.
With GREEN ROOM, a tight and taunt thriller about a metal
band that gets caught in the wrong place at the absolute worse time. Yelchin is
more human, more honest, than anyone deserves. Playing “Pat”, the leader and
band’s guitarist, he has a presence that all of us immediately turn to for
answers. His is the questionable conscience of this film, and one we are drawn
back to over and again.
This brutal, sometimes thought provoking juggernaut of doom,
is effective not just due to the tight storytelling of writer/director Jeremy
Saulnier (BLUE RUIN, a terribly under-appreciated film—it’s on Netflix, so go
watch it, you unappreciative bastards), but also because of the careful eyes of
cinematographer Sean Porter. The moments and images he captures, while
horrifyingly realistic at times, lend a quiet beauty to this film that should not
be missed. If you watched THE FOREST (if you haven’t, please, DON’T), you’ll
recall that the first eight minutes of that film was a visual and mental feast.
Not only does Saulnier trust Porter enough to establish the mood and the
artistic quality of what could have been a casual crime thriller, but he trusts
him enough to work his magic throughout the entire film. FOREST forgot it was
trying to be different the minute the lead character went into the frigging
forest. Here, you become mesmerized not just by the unfolding of events before
you, but by the way it is shown to you.
Yelchin was fully capable of carrying this film by himself,
but he didn’t need to. The mark of a truly great performer is that he can
capture your attention, but not steal it from the rest of the cast. Every
person on display here is their own story, their own flawed representation of
every facet of humanity, and none overpowers the other. Which makes Patrick
Stewart’s (STAR TREK: TNG, “Professor X” from multiple X-MEN films) performance
that much better. He chews the hell out of the scenery, but in a subtle,
gnawing kind of way. Like a mental termite hell-bent on leaving a trail behind
in your brain. It is refreshing to see him playing the “bad guy”—especially one
that doesn’t think he’s bad.
The other beautiful and wonderfully absurd touch to this
film is the ending. I’ll not spoil it for you, but it is, by far, one of the
best final twenty seconds of anything I’ve seen in a good, long while.
There is only one special feature on the disc, but you don’t
really need any more than that. The movie is the only voice you need, believe
it or not. Deleted scenes and gag reels probably would have just distracted
from the finished product, and the one special feature is good enough to reinforce
the scope of the loss of such a talented actor.
There are at least five more films Yelchin was involved with
that have yet-to-be released. I’m not sure that any of them have the
opportunity to show his true talent and power as ROOM does, but that does not
mean I won’t be watching them. Yes, me makes a wonderful Pavel Chekov in the
TREK films, but give the man some credit for what he’s done here.
Grade: A
Special Features: A
Blu-ray Necessary: Most Definitely
-- T.S. Kummelman
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