A Superb Directorial Debut from Sheridan

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2017)

I had high expectations for Wind River, and when it finally hit a theater near me, it exceeded those expectations. To be upfront, Wind River is not an easy watch, as it's dealing with heavy dark subject matter, and it's delivered in a brutal realistic way. There's a strong chance that you will leave the theater more depressed than you entered it. However, the film is absolutely worth the potential emotional drain, as it is a superbly crafted film. The movie opens with a young Native American woman running away from something in her bare feet in the snowy Wyoming wilderness. Then after introducing the main character Jeremy Renner, a hunter/wildlife official, he finds the dead woman in the snow while searching for mountain lions that killed some livestock. At this point the investigation begins, and Elizabeth Olsen as a fish out of water FBI agent comes to solve the murder with Renner's help.
For most of Wind River, it is a slow burn dramatic mystery thriller, but as the the investigation moves forward, there are moments of incredible tension that eventually burst into realistic violence. These moments are filmed very differently from action films, but they are very satisfying and brutal. The director uses a lot of interesting tactics to build the tension leading up to these moments, and it really gets your heart beating as the viewer. One of the most surprising and effective is in the middle of an already tense scene, where the film flashes back to show exactly what happened the night of the girl's death.
The acting from everyone in Wind River is excellent, and the film is filled with small powerful moments between two characters. Jeremy Renner is the standout performance, where he's playing a character with a deeply ingrained tragic past. His moments with Elizabeth Olsen and especially with his good friend and father of the raped/murdered girl, Gil Birmingham, are packed with emotion. The dialogue in these scenes is outstanding and heart breaking. I really think that this film deserves multiple nominations when the award season comes along, particularly for Best Actor (Renner), Best Supporting Actor (Birmingham) and Best Director/Original Screenplay (Sheridan).
I'd highly recommend this film, it's one of my favorite movies of 2017, and definitely the most powerful film I've seen since Arrival. If you'd like to see the video version of my review, you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbFmLl6Ix1E