 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Wind River • Year: 2017 • Country: USA • Director: Taylor Sheridan • Main cast: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Graham Greene, Julia Jones, Kelsey Asbille • Runtime: 107 minutes • Production company: Acacia Filmed Entertainment, Film 44, Ingenious Media • TRAILER |
Let’s start this review mentioning that although Wind River was part of the program from the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, it is not a genre film. It’s not a horror, fantasy or science fiction story, but a classic thriller. And a great one! I bet nobody regretted to seeing it in a festival of this nature.
The story from Wind River happens in the American Indian reservation of the same name, where a young native girl appears death in the middle of the snowed desert. She froze to death running away from something undetermined, although her body showed evidence of being raped. Her case is assigned to the young but well-meaning FBI agent Jane Banner, played by Elizabeth Olsen in another of her great performances that she has accustomed us to. But she soon realizes she is in absolute disadvantage in an arid terrain she is not used to, so asks the local hunter Cory Lambert (played by Jeremy Renner) to assist her and give her a hand to solve the case.
This classic set up for the events is garnished by a set of honest and absolutely likable supporting characters that make the audience get deep into the story, into the scenario and into the case. The forensic doctor, the sheriff, the parents of the dead girl, all the town’s people; it doesn’t matter if they are native Americans or whites, all of them show a warm heart that covers the whole story in goodness and honesty.
Wind River is the second feature film for actor and writer Taylor Sheridan, who debuted in direction with the horror title Vile (2011). After gaining media recognition for being the author of the scripts for other sublime thrillers like Hell or High Water (2016) or Sicario (2015), this time he opted to direct his own text. The result is more than positive, a very personal film was all the pieces fit perfectly. The cinematography makes great use of the wonderful landscapes of the snowed American deserts to depict those white sceneries of solitude and death, so the viewer can freeze to death only by watching the screen. Acting and direction are grand, keeping the movie always alive. And the soundtrack was written and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is, like always when these two make music together, only describable as perfect. Although I think the musicians duo have reached another level with this score because the music is more beautiful than ever.
I only have good things to say about Wind River. I think it was my favorite movie seen at Sitges Film Festival 2017. No wonder it received 8 minutes standing ovation at the end of its premiere in Cannes film festival. It had all the ingredients to be a good film, but I think the final result is even better than the most optimistic expectations could have. Therefore, I undoubtedly recommend it to watch it. And if you can catch it on a big screen, even better. Wind River is cinema at its best. A simple story told beautifully.
RATE: 8/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988
