Wind River

With the intense atmosphere of the location and a clever reminder of the social position of Native Americans in contemporary America, Wind River serves up a chilling, perfectly directed thriller and a desperately sad drama about the greatest loss in life in one package. A potential Academy Award winner. [Karlovy Vary IFF] (08/07/2017)

Taylor Sheridan isn't as good a director as Denis Villeneuve, but he learned a lot from him, both good (his work with landscapes, drawing out the suspense to the limits of tolerability, shocking explosions of violence) and bad (“deliberateness” and unnecessary literalness). The investigation of the crime serves mainly as a means to create an atmosphere of ruination and total disillusion (as in film noir, in which the revealing of the perpetrator often occurs rather by chance than as the result of piecing together individual clues) and as an excuse to uncover something rotten in the midst of the community, similarly as in Top of the Lake and Wilderness, though on a much smaller area, which takes its toll in the form of overwrought scenes that try to say too much at once (a woman sits in her bedroom, crying and cutting her arm; another woman sees her, closes the door without a word and leaves). Furthermore, the realistic tone is disturbed by balladic dialogue about the frozen hellscape and undefeatable evil (which would have come across much better in the pages of a book) and the use of western archetypes, shifting the drama of people anchored in a particular social reality to a timeless parable about hunters and predators and the clash of two declining cultures. The combining of these two narrative levels could have been smoother and the treatment of the female protagonist lost among men who much better understand what’s happening around them didn’t have to be so reminiscent of Sicario, and sometimes it might have been enough for the characters to simply sit and be quiet, but the catharsis that Wind River delivers in the climax is so powerful that it absolutely outweighs the unconvincingness of the film’s individual parts. 75% (10/07/2017)

If you like movies and watch a large number of them every month, including the new ones, then you will appreciate a movie that is written so perfectly from start to finish that it's a pleasure to watch. That's probably why I would simply describe why I gave the film five stars. I had a feeling that from the beginning till the end I was watching a crime film with everything it entails. There were no complicated explanations, but an amazingly chilly atmosphere and wonderful locations. Everything fits together perfectly, and you enjoy not only the suffering of Elizabeth Olsen, but also Jeremy Renner, who became the lone fighter for justice the moment he put on the white overalls and ventured alone into the wild. I was excited. I didn’t miss a single minute of this movie. And the best part is that you can really feel that Taylor Sheridan is behind all of that. You can sense the chilling atmosphere of Sicario, but also the dangerous shoot offs of the film Hell or High Water. And yet you know that this film is in its way completely unique. Hopefully, Sheridan will maintain that diligence. When it comes to filmmaking craft, Wind River is one of the best films I saw in 2017. (12/10/2017)

An Indian girl was found murdered in the middle of Wyoming. An FBI agent arrives on the scene to find the killer with the help of a local tracker. Little does she know that this inhospitable land may be a bit too much for her to handle. Taylor Sheridan's directorial debut follows in the footsteps of his earlier films, and this time we get an atmospheric, gritty and manly piece where there's plenty of time for everything, but the slowly building atmosphere is ultimately so intense that you'll be biting your nails with suspense. And root for Jeremy Renner to win an Oscar. (16/08/2017)

As a director, Taylor Sheridan is looking to find his own style and optimal storytelling rhythm, but as a screenwriter he excels once more. As in Sicario and Hell or High Water, he creates another rough space that seems to exist outside of our reality. And just like in Sicario, he brings a somewhat naive woman into it who needs a guide and initiators to survive here. This means that an orthodox supporter of feminism will not find what they are looking for in Wind River. Wyoming in this film is above all a place for mourning, despair and vanishing traditions, a snow canvas of misery and surrender, a land of hunters and trackers, in which women disappear without a trace. Sheridan incorporates a personal story of reconciliation into the detective-thriller, about the acceptance of a world in which "happiness lives in cities" and people outside of them have at most enough time to mourn and fall into despair. Jeremy Renner is admirable, economical as a hunting beast, and vulnerable when he loses the scent. This is the best performance of his career, I have no doubt about that. Sheridan is slowly preparing the background for the last act, which does not culminate in a shootout or harsh retrospective, but a final dialogue in which everything essential is hidden. It’s about people who live on the land that has been stolen from them losing their bond with their ancestors. They have no vision of a better future, only the sorrow that needs to be accepted. Wind River is a melancholic film-portrait of a place, a more action-based genre version of Manchester by the Sea. Sheridan writes words, landscapes and characters that touch me deeply. It’s an eternal pity that the Czech viewer will not get to see Wind River in the distribution... (07/07/2017)

As expected, Sheridan presents himself as a significantly better screenwriter than a director. Even so, he is not ridiculous in his new role, he certainly does not spoil anything (he even delivers good performance), but surprisingly he cannot take full advantage of the possibilities that his own topic provides him with. And where it is more than obvious it´s the work with the environment. Where Villeneuve/Mackenzie (and I'd bet Sollima too) work with the sketched environment of arid depopulated plains as an integral part and reflection of the soul, almost the main character, so all the whining of the freezing wind, the crunching of snow under snowshoes and endless freezing distances do not fulfill this role to the extent that would be appropriate. In the beginning, they do (and in a captivating way), but it then it seems that he said to himself as if he has already given too much space to it, and in the second half he takes the ruthless landscape and its role for granted. And this is an unjustifiable mistake for a this kind of movie. Otherwise there is nothing to complain about. It's exactly the dense minimalist taciturn "McCarthy" supra-genre rough old-school contribution with an overlap building on the magnificently profiled characters that one would expect from Sheridan. (09/07/2017)

A few words about many things. In a melancholic spirit, in the surprisingly uncompromising delivery of all breakthrough scenes, and in Jeremy Renner's tour-de-force performance. Such a manly and uncompromising film that it will even be too much for some. (31/10/2017)

The Indian reservation of Wind River is not a place that you would choose for a pleasant luxury vacation. It is an inhospitable, sparsely populated place far from civilization, where only those who have no other choice or those who do not need much in life and do not want much from it live. The discovery of a raped Native American girl's body brings together local predator hunter Cory and inexperienced FBI agent Jane. The subsequent investigation can be considered a counterbalance to crime thrillers based on effects and shocking plot twists. It is an intimate story full of weight, bitterness, and melancholy. Although I did not find in it the promised "mystery," the majestic nature of the freezing mountains and the slowly dosed tension was more than enough for me. Taylor Sheridan is primarily a screenwriter, and it might have been better to look for a more established name for the director's position, but it is not that crucial. Rather, I would like to emphasize again: do not expect anything relaxing, this is an adult drama with a slower pace and without clever screenwriting tricks, built on acting performances and tragedies of ruined human lives. Wind River is a film that you don't necessarily have to see in movie theaters, but you shouldn't miss it. It is an above-average genre film that may not elicit a burst of superlatives from most viewers, but it reliably does its job. Overall impression: 75%. (19/10/2017)

A crisp, snowy crime movie with a chilling veneer. In the middle of the wilderness, hunter Cory Lambert finds the body of a raped Indian girl whose lungs burst in the frost. Who is responsible? The story is simple, but its strength lies in details. Elaborate, lifelike characters (typical Renner) and an atmosphere of ruin hides behind every footstep in the snow. The slow tempo suits the story perfectly. Recriminations, heart-searching, strong emotions. Action is fairly scarce, but the finale shootout is worth it. Very happy. P.S: A perfect explanation for why to be wary of seemingly friendly drunks. (21/10/2017)

A chilling, gradually escalating thriller set in the harsh American countryside, with minimalist production design, actors who don't talk much and, above all, an existential subtext dealing with life's greatest and most intimate losses. All wrapped up in an atmospheric and engaging crime package, where an FBI agent and her colleagues gradually and very straightforwardly uncover the evidence and traces of a murder mystery, leading to an infernal finale that you see about once every 50 or so films. A great example of perfectly mined screenwriting. (30/09/2017)

A very atmospheric, cold crime film with one immensely tense and thrilling scene that the screenwriter (and director) allow to be interspersed with another, even more tense scene, which can then hit the viewer (who is prepared for anything) with something that we hardly ever see these days. Wind River is like an icy whiff of the good old film days, when crime films and thrillers cared mostly about characters, and when a duel between two people was enough for a memorable ending. (10/10/2017)

I was looking forward to it like few other films this year and in the end I can't say I was disappointed. Sheridan proves once again that he can create depressingly isolated fictional worlds where moral values are reshaped along with the experiences and beliefs of the characters, to whom the viewer either quickly finds their way or gets lost along with them. On these psychological scales, the script is confident and intelligent, relying on the act of murder itself as a simple symbolism of racism and the impossibility of getting out of a difficult life situation. We mostly sympathize with the characters and root for them on their journey. Unfortunately, however, the film is 100 minutes long, a good hour of which is devoted to the somewhat bland construction of the detective plot and repeated sighing about how life isn't fair (which isn't enhanced much by Renner's character's past, reeking of cliché a mile away), and for the rest of the runtime, the truth comes with an unexpected and smoothly scripted detour that essentially sidelines the existing detective storyline and emphasizes the psychological depression even more, but that again fizzles out quietly at the end without leaving a harrowing emotional wound. Big thumbs up anyway for the performances, the work with the cold snowy environment that I love so much, and the overall realism, culminating in a proper shootout that immediately aspires to cult status. Sheridan still has to mature as a director, and we can look forward to great things. (18/10/2017)

Wind River is a properly raw thriller set in bone-chilling Wyoming, tackling both cold-blooded crime and coping with the loss of loved ones. In the snow and ice-covered landscape, the rules are different from those in the (big) city, ruthless nature and human brutality reign supreme, as a young FBI agent learns firsthand. Together with the investigators, we gradually uncover a crime under a layer of ice, but its boundless and senseless cruelty seeps to the surface and turns the snow red. Jeremy Renner, as tracker Cory, confirms his marksmanship after Hawkeye and makes it abundantly clear that he is not to be walked at gunpoint. Wind River points out what humans are capable of, and that many of their actions exceed the natural behaviour of predators in their cruelty. In many ways, this film is similar to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri with Frances McDormand, and I think that if it hadn’t been released almost at the same season in theaters, Wind River would have seen some well deserved Oscar nominations. (20/03/2020)

The first half, sprinkled with centuries-old clichés, starring a rugged backwoodsman with a past who loves his son and a young, pretty, and inexperienced FBI agent in a forgotten hostile location, quite makes you feel the limits of the seats in the small Lucerne auditorium. But it's worth waiting for the devil out of the box, which flies out at the turning point of the film's second half. For Sheridan here lands his writing and directing blows. A brilliantly used flashback sequence, then, is not only itself an intense burst of painful, vicious violence, but also a means of drawing out the tension of the scene it has split. Its monumental bloody climax (with excellent sound) then multiplies the power of its impact in how it has already hooked the viewer with its development. Of course, it also wouldn't work without the excellent composition of that scene, where Sheridan proves himself a truly capable, professional director. That clever arrangement of the characters around the space, his framing, and the work with the actors just manages to create uncomfortable tension without needing the help of, say, music. As a reward for this scene, I then swallowed the whole thing the way Sheridan wanted me to, appreciating the treatment of that barren space on the edge of everything and the empty souls of its original inhabitants with nothing to build on. Even though after the first season of True Detective all such efforts are a bit half-baked. (04/10/2017)

Five stars even though the story sometimes dragged like slightly frozen condensed milk (sweetened). The perfectly bleak atmosphere outweighed all the negatives for me. I just feel sorry for all the enthusiastic admirers of the most democratic state on Earth, because the film must have shattered a lot of their illusions. On the other hand, I think the die-hards will be okay. It’s surely a made-up story, and even if it wasn't, Indians are savages and they get what they deserve, right? To sum it up, the film had a good story and atmosphere, the action scenes were decent and Jeremy Renner for once showed something other than running around with a bow. (20/01/2018)

This is one of the best thrillers of 2017, and 2017 isn't over yet. However, I doubt that The Snowman will be nearly as good. It's suspenseful, it's dramatic, and it's depressing, and there are great characters, with Renner and Olsen being a great pairing, not to mention that the supporting roles are also good. Life on the reserve is wonderfully captured, as is the beauty and eeriness of nature. (02/10/2017)

The bleak atmosphere of Wyoming, cut off from civilization, is reminiscent of a modern Wild West, where the principles of "modern and advanced society" have not yet arrived. The harsh landscape, inaccessible community, and communication (in both senses), with at first glance a very fragile heroine once again in the lead, whom no school or experience in the big city can prepare for anything like this. Wind River is a dense thriller, soaked through and through with depression, in which the only decent light is the character of Jeremy Renner. His Cory Lambert is the pure example of a vigilante whose existence is needed from time to time in the real world. Taylor Sheridan again plays with contrasts bravely, which is of course most evident in the character of the female protagonist. A wild bunch of dangerously twisted hillbillies, with Elizabeth Olsen's rookie FBI agent on the front lines against them. A splendidly depressing spectacle with luxuriously written central characters. "This isn't the land of waiting for backup. This is the land of you're on your own." (28/04/2019)

I can't think of many better TV experiences than watching a great movie set in a freezing cold environment in the warmth of my own home. And Wind River is undoubtedly one of those movies. I was happy to let myself be carried away by an emotionally charged detective story full of suspense, and I never got bored for a moment while watching it. At the same time I could enjoy the beauty of the landscapes and listen to the music of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. All this went hand in hand with excellent performances by most of the actors. (90%) (07/05/2022)