Green Room

The whole problem of Neo-Nazis invading one music scene or another by indoctrinated young men and women is a problem that's been existing since extreme music has been around. Industrial, punk, metal; whatever scene you're in, the racists are somewhere nearby. This is a reason why I've seen so much praise for the recent sleeper hit Green Room from many friends and fellow movie goers. It's a film that takes all of us involved in the music industry to a world we're used to and gives it the violent, gritty, yet vengeful take we yearn for. 

The plot itself is fairly straightforward; the band plays a gig at a skinhead bar, they see a dead person they weren't supposed to see, Nazis get angry, try to kill them, they fight back, and people die. What brightens the whole, simple script and its intermediate dialogue are the actors and a certain scene that steals the whole film. 

As the Ain't Rights get on stage at the skinhead bar, the first song they choose to play is a cover the Dead Kennedys' 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off'. While in real life this probably would have gotten the band swarmed in thirty seconds, they enrage the crowd and just get a few bottles thrown at them. Nonetheless, the message of the song was brought to life by the band and the actors involved. 


On the acting side everyone does a powerful job of portraying anger, frustration, and fear. From the first moment the Ain't Rights realized they've been fucked over by being in the wrong place at the wrong time to the final gunshot of the film, the tension is cranked up. The best performance without any shock goes to Sir Patrick Stewart who had the pleasure of playing the leader of the skinheads Darcy Banker. His calm demeanor and deceitful nature combined made him a force to be reckoned with and a bastard to see on screen. Well played, Stewart, well played. 

The only real problem I had with the film was how it attempted to balance action and tension. For a good portion of the beginning of the film, we are given a ton of tension as the band realized what a fucked up situation they got themselves in. When they finally leave the Green Room and plan to fight back, they retreat back to the room and lock themselves in. This process repeats at least twice in the film and by the end of it I was hoping the room would blow up. 

Director/writer Jeremy Saulnier did a fine job with Green Room nonetheless. I would imagine he has a certain love for punk music himself and has found a way to deal with the problems in the scene through this film and I commend him for it. It's not the smartest film, but is definitely a violent, entertaining film which sometimes loses its pace.