Blame

Blame, a buttock clenching revenge flick, is one of the best thrillers I’ve seen recently.

A group of teenagers leave their friend’s funeral with vengeance on their minds. They set out to murder a teacher who had sex with their friend three years ago. And so the chase begins.

As the title indicates this revenge thriller is about who is really at fault. Did their friend kill herself because of this teacher? Or is someone manipulating the truth?

The characters are complex, the story believable and the photography is lush. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

…but

the next day I was still thinking about the illusively simple plot and it struck me that, when the movie climaxed, I was left cold. In the darkened theatre I was just an observer, not really involved. I didn’t know who to feel for. Did I want the teacher to survive or did I want the assailants to win?

Maybe a feature of thrillers is ambiguous character identification. I don’t think so. The particular theme of this one made it difficult to know who to go for. Hence, no emotional kick.

Still, a beautiful, well paced, intricate movie. Well worth catching on the big screen.