Bleak and depressing but ultimately satisfying stuff

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2017)

They say living well's the best revenge but there's also something very satisfying about good ol' bloody revenge itself, at least in the movies. Wind River" takes us back in the tough working-class Americana in the middle of nowhere that often makes for an exciting drama and/or action. The people are tough and bitter, nobody plays around, the punches are thrown hard, and even the strongest characters edge at the brink of darkness. A game tracker (Jeremy Renner) teams with FBI agent (Elisaberth Olsen) to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation. There's a bunch of smaller characters around but it's very much about them two, or rather the tracker guy alone. If you have seen (among others) Winter's Bone", A Single Shot", Justified" or any other story of this type, you can already guess what you're in for. I would compare Wind River" mostly to 2013's A Single Shot" starring Sam Rockwell, this being mostly about one unlikely male hero who has to take matters into his own hands, with a little exciting violence in the end. And both are also about mental and physical isolation, and solving stuff alone. Having written that, an early Nolan work Insomnia" also sprung to mind for comparison, which was my favorite Nolan until the mighty Dunkirk" arrived. The movie's mostly about building – characters, their state of mind, sense of place, mood, suspense. The aim is not to dispense fast pleasures or easily digestible entertainment, and there's no need for that, because once you are able to invest yourself in the story, you'll probably agree that screenwriter and debuting director Taylor Sheridan is very able to pull it all off. Everybody's not gonna be happy about how they have built up the explosive finale, but I liked it. No problems with that kind of approach, at least in this case. Acting is very good all around, with delicate, nuanceful, and well measured performances from everybody from the central hero to the smallest characters on-screen. Wind River" is a cool directorial debut from Taylor Sheridan, who has previously acted in TV but also written screenplays for Sicario" and Hell or High Water", both unfortunately unwatched by me (and most others) so far. But both have received encouraging word of mouth, and Wind River" makes me want to see these even more. It's a good TV series quality drama, which is highest honor an American movie can receive in 2017. Bleak and depressing but ultimately satisfying stuff.