Destroyer Channels Green Room and Mikey & Nicky In Its Exquisitely Crafted Dark Tone

"We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us", so goes one of the most memorable lines from Magnolia and Destroyer is a crime thriller about a human being whose present-day circumstances are tormented by the past. Such a set-up, unsurprisingly, results in a grim movie that has little time for levity or hope, this is a bleak examination of a person not looking for redemption so much as a way to make the emotional pain stop, even for a moment. Such a pervasively mirthless affair won't be to everyone's liking, but me? I absolutely adored Destroyer, it's an absorbing movie that executes its dark tone with exquisite filmmaking that echoes the harrowing rawness found in Elaine May's Mikey & Nicky or Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room.

Jake Gyllenhaal's Recent String Of Strong Performances Continue In Stronger

Prior to March 2013, Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) was just another guy in Boston, Massachusetts. A good-hearted fella with an immature streak, Bauman lived out his days with his boisterous family, a steady Costco job and an on-again/off-again relationship with Erin Hurley (Tatiana Maslany). In his newest attempt to rekindle his relationship with Hurley, he promises to be there cheering her on at the finish line of marathon she's running. He makes good on that promise and shows up to the marathon the very next day with his own sign in tow when all of a sudden tragedy strikes in the form of a bomb going off that catches Jeff in its crossfire.