By Over the last few years, A24 has quickly become my favorite production studio. They’ve overseen everything from huge award winners like Room, Amy, and Ex Machina, critical darlings such as Spring Breakers and The End of the Tour, and some of my personal favorites in Obvious Child and Locke. They’re a studio still taking risks in a industry where taking risks is increasingly punished as film budgets soar higher and higher.
I was instantly attracted to Green Room because of A24’s involvement and everything announced after was just further icing on the cake. All I knew going in was Patrick Stewart’s casting as a Nazi figurehead and Jeremy Saulnier, director of the also harsh Blue Ruin, was set to direct. I’m so glad my blind faith was rewarded.
Green Room is an intense experience from beginning to end and I’m still thinking about it days later. Look for it on everyone’s “Best of 2016” lists this year.
Green Room
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Rating: R
Release Date: April 22 and 29, 2016
At the center of Green Room is small town punk band The Ain’t Rights, four kids Sam, Pat, Reece, and Tiger (Alia Shawkat, Anton Yelchin, Joe Cole and Callum Turner respectively). Everything goes awry during a performance at a Neo-Nazi den when they suddenly witness a murder and now they’ve got a veritable army of Nazis and their leader Darcy (Patrick Stewart) hunting them. Deciding to hole themselves up in the venue’s green room, The Ain’t Rights and their new ally, the mysterious Amber (Imogen Poots), try to survive the terrifying night to come.
To put it bluntly, at its core, Green Room is a film you’ve seen before. With its premise, it’s easy to make comparisons to home invasions films or anything where it’s one against many (Assault on Precinct 13 or even Die Hard come to mind), but that’s where all of the similarities and predictability ends. Green Room takes the time to build an entire world around its tiny setting and it’s all the more effective because of it. The film feels lived in, and it’s almost as if we’re jumping into a point of these kids’ lives. The Ain’t Rights themselves have a wonderful chemistry. An almost effortless gelling informs their life long friendship and I bought into it immediately. The four are given enough time as their characters to get comfortable and let each actor imbue themselves with little quirks and touches. In fact, some of the film’s finest moments are early on when we’re just getting to know the band. Because of the attention to the build up, it’s all the more devastating when things come down around them.
I don’t feel like I can stress this enough. Green Room is entirely unpredictable. The initial transition from humor to horror is seamless. Because of the care put into the characters, the audience essentially ends up in the confined space with them. The emotional stakes rise almost instantly and there’s nary a bump in the production. It’s like an emotional punch to gut, and that’s before any violence takes place. Anton Yelchin and Patrick Stewart own these scenes in particular when the two of them speak on opposite ends of a door. Yelchin is constantly on the verge of tears (thus making us closer to him on a whole) while Stewart’s eerily calm demeanor hides sinister motives. And just when you think you’ve got the film figured out, it changes tone completely. With controlled spontaneity through violence, Green Room continuously raises its stakes and never once feels overbearing in its tension.
The entire film’s production is lined with a chilling vibe. From its metal and punk heavy soundtrack, its lighting (making sure everything is just dark enough to be unnerving while still making sure everything is visible and digestible), there’s a special sense of dread permeating throughout and it’s naturalistic. The crafted tone grounds its characters and setting begetting fear from a human place. Darcy’s frightening introduction and speeches juxtapose Stewart’s unassuming demeanor. It’s kind of like how Breaking Bad slowly transformed Bryan Cranston’s Walter White into Heisenberg over six seasons instead crammed into less than 90 minutes. Sometimes it doesn’t work completely, but it’s still utterly effective and damning. Thanks to the cast playing off of each other in such a tight space (and a stellar performance from everyone involved), it’s an emotional thriller rather than a physical one. There are certainly visceral payoffs (and they’re increasingly shocking in their brutality), but if you don’t enjoy the film’s emotional stakes then you won’t connect as much overall.
Before seeing Green Room you need to know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s a nail biting thriller for sure, but if you’re expecting some sort of all out knuckle brawl you’ll be severely disappointed. This film is a thriller horror film in the traditional sense, so there’s very little “action.” When it does finally resort to such measures, Green Room excels. It’s satisfying in such a weird, weird way.
And that’s Green Room in a nutshell. It’s disarming, gruesome, macabre, hilarious, cartoonish, will make you squirm, but it’s a fun experience through and through. I’m going to remember this one for a while.
