After making his start working on screen with writer-director Jeremy Saulnier — first with 2007’s Murder Party, then followed up by the indie smash success Blue Ruin (with Blair taking center stage), and finally with last year’s Green Room — Macon Blair has now stepped behind the camera to direct I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. An official selection at this year’s Sundance film festival, the film follows Ruth (Malanie Lynskey), a fed up and depressed woman who hits the final straw when her house is burglarized and her deceased mother’s precious spoon gone. Now driven, she sets out on a quest — as much, perhaps, to find new purpose in life as to seek revenge — alongside her oddball neighbor (Elijah Wood). Unfortunately, the duo quickly find themselves far out of their element against the pack of thugs (including Don’t Breathe‘s Jane Levy and David Yow) that inspired her rage.
With striking cinematography by Larkin Seiple (Swiss Army Man, Cop Car) and a score by The Blair Brothers (Blue Ruin, Green Room), I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore looks to have a strong balance of dark humor and genuine fear, signaling an apt understanding of narrative balance from Blair’s debut. He, like Saulnier, seems to have a fascination for ordinary people in extreme fish-out-of-water scenarios, where things always culminate in brutal, awkward violence. Hopefully Blair’s hand behind the camera lends a different touch than Saulnier’s, perhaps making for a balanced — and thus, wonderful — double feature with the likes of Blue Ruin.
See the trailer below, along with a batch of images and a synopsis, and check back for our review.
From the producers of Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women” and Jeremy Saulnier’s “Green Room” comes the story of Ruth (Melanie Lynskey), a nursing assistant suffering through a crisis of existential despair. But when her house is burglarized, Ruth discovers a renewed sense of purpose in tracking down the thieves. Accompanied by her obnoxious martial-arts-enthusiast neighbor Tony (Elijah Wood), they soon find themselves dangerously out of their depth against a pack of degenerate criminals.
Written and directed by Macon Blair (“Blue Ruin,” “Green Room,”) in his directorial debut, with a distinctive look courtesy of cinematographer Larkin Seiple (“Swiss Army Man,” “Cop Car”), the film also stars David Yow, Jane Levy, Devon Graye, Christine Woods, Robert Longstreet, Lee Eddy and Gary Anthony Williams.
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore hits Netflix on February 24th.