Cements Sheridan as a director to watch

Rating: 7/10 (13 November 2017)

If you weren't already aware going into Wind River of just who is the brains behind this tough, tense and distinctly masculine drama, then it won't take very long for you to guess that it is Taylor Sheridan, the so-hot-right-now scribe behind the likes of Sicario and Hell or High Water. Rounding off his trilogy based around the American frontier, Sheridan directs for the first time here, and proves to be as equally adept with bringing his work to life as he is with penning it. To dub him the new Cormac McCarthy may be slightly condescending to the talented writer, but the comparisons are certainly there to be made. This is the world of tough, lean men doing what they have to do in order to survive or get by in their increasingly dire economic surroundings, and it's certainly a setting Sheridan feels comfortable in, or at least wishes he was part of.
While Sicario placed us in the terrifying, claustrophobic choke-hold of the Mexican drug cartels and Hell or High Water delivered outlaw hi-jinks with serious social and economic undertones, Wind River is a movie of quiet, simmering tension played out against the backdrop of the freezing, desolate mountains of Wyoming. Hard times have come to the titular Indian Reservation and the surrounding areas, but so little apparently occurs here that a police force of over 6 officers is trusted with covering an area the size of a large city. When a young Native American girl (Kelsey Asbille) is found barefoot and dead in the snow 5 miles from the nearest residence, the minuscule department find themselves clearly ill-equipped for the investigation. The girl died from suffocating on the blood in her lungs, brought on by the sub- zero temperature, but she has also been raped. The man who found her, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), uses his knowledge and experience as a hunter to start making connections.
Renner has spent so many years in superhero costumes or starring in forgettable, little-seen box-office under-performers that it's easy to forget just how he made the jump from supporting character actor to leading man material. In movies like The Hurt Locker and The Town, he demonstrated an uncanny skill at playing introverted characters emotionally scarred by past experiences. Yes, he was an outright psychopath in Ben Affleck's thrilling The Town, but it always felt like he was masking something deeper. Lambert is living with his own trauma. He pays visits to his Native American ex-wife to see his son, but their separation was clearly brought on by tragedy. In a moving monologue to the father of the murdered girl (a marvellous Gil Birmingham), he reveals through choked-back tears that his daughter had passed years earlier. It's quite possibly the best work he's ever done; utterly convincing as the strong, silent hunter who can spot a snowmobile track from a mile away, and as a potential romantic interest for FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen).
She is sent from her office in Las Vegas, and arrives completely ill-prepared for the brutal conditions of Wind River. When she quickly realises she's out of her depth, Banner leans on Lambert to help her navigate the perilous conditions and vast landscape. It's a character seen many times before - even in Sicario - and although Olsen is perfectly fine, her role seems somewhat diminutive and over-reliant on her male counterpart. It's an issue Sheridan should perhaps address in his next venture, but Wind River proves that he is more than capable of visualising his own work. He shoots the wilderness as a cold, unforgiving place, where only the toughest - humans or animals - can survive, turning them wilder and more primitive in the process. The score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis also give the land a mystic ambiance, similar in many ways to their work on The Proposition. Although it does digress into Quentin Tarantino territory and the final pay-off seems over-eager to highlight good from bad, Wind River deserves some recognition come awards season, as does Sheridan as a director to watch.