GREEN ROOM

A punk band gets lost in backwoods Oregon. Broke and disillusioned, they find gig in a local neo-Nazi club. There, they witness an altercation between the joint’s managers and two female fans. When one of the women is found dead, the punks end up trapped in the room of the film’s title, besieged by a bunch of nasty skinheads, their dogs and a boss (played with relish by a scary Patrick Stewart) ready to do away with any witnesses. Before they can even think of escaping, they need to survive...

Young filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier is on a roll. After the resounding critical success of Blue Ruin, he follows up on his impressive Cannes debut with this highly anticipated second feature. Taking his lead once again from Sam Peckinpah — his staging of violence brings to mind the famous climax of Straw Dogs — he ups his game with a grittiness reminiscent of 80s cinema. Akin to a locked-in Deliverance, this is a hardcore survival flick, recalling the popular subgenre that mixed drama and action with horror. A smart, effective and cathartic return to the source.  Julien Fonfrède