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He, in the end, is the great white savior – which is a plot device Hollywood has been using since well before the days of John Ford and Howard Hawks.Īnd Sheridan is his own worst enemy. Wind River may be their home, but this is Lambert’s story. One is that Sheridan, for all his good intentions, shuffles the Indian characters – from Greene as the sheriff, to Gil Birmingham as a grieving father, to Julia Jones as Lambert’s estranged native wife – off to the side. And the role he has provided for Renner is the kind of meaty opportunity that an actor of Renner’s talent can make into something particularly special.īut there are two big problems here. #Wind river cast movie#He proves capable of portraying sharp scenes of quick violence, of which the movie has two. Sheridan deserves credit for how he uses the landscape to underscore both the beauty, and the desolation, felt by the characters who live on the reservation. Once Banner starts paying attention to Lambert, who can see what the land has to tell him, they fairly quickly stumble onto what happened. Sheridan, the screenwriter-turned-director who wrote the scripts for the movies “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water,” doesn’t clutter his plotline with a lot of digressions. And pretty soon, the two of them – assisted by the tribal police chief (played by the always dependable Graham Greene) – are on the trail. Though woefully unprepared, Banner is smart enough to ask Lambert – a hunter/tracker employed by the wildlife service – for help. But as a sign of either bureau budget restrictions, lack of available personnel, lack of interest or a blend of all three, the agent who shows up is young Jane Banner ( Elizabeth Olsen). Since the incident has occurred on federal land, an FBI agent is called in. And so the investigation into her death begins. Later, a character named Cory Lambert ( Jeremy Renner) discovers the woman’s frozen corpse. Set on the Wind River Indian Reservation of West-central Wyoming – but filmed in the scenic mountains just outside Park City, Utah – “Wind River” begins with a haunting scene: As a female narrator recites a poem, we watch a young woman running, as if for her life, barefoot across a snowy landscape. On the surface, what Sheridan has given us is a well-made, standard murder mystery. And a good case in point is Taylor Sheridan’s film “Wind River.” It’s a fair question, I guess, even if – sometimes – there is no easy answer. But I never could figure out whether you liked the movie or not. One question critics tend to get is, “Hey, I read your review. But it had a different effect on me, a fact I tried to explain in the review that I wrote for Spokane Public Radio: The movie "Wind River" is getting a number of good reviews. As for my take on the film, which several readers disagreed with, I stand my ground. I'm not sure what was going on in my brain as I posted this review. As more than one reader pointed out, the reservation is in Wyoming. And I even misidentified the actress who played Jeremy Renner's wife. This is an engrossing story well worth your time and money, and kudos to everyone involved for having faith that a discerning audience will find and appreciate it.Note: In the original version of this review, I wrote that the Wind River Indian Reservation was in Colorado. Renner, Olsen and Greene are excellent and believable, but in no small way this is an ensemble piece whose potency and effectiveness derive from the palpable passion and belief of everyone in front of and behind the camera. The photography is perfectly rendered, celebrating the icy Wyoming scenery in a muted style consistent with the mood of the story. We learn how the Native American culture is victimized in a way that takes us inside their world and their souls, but the journey is skillfully handled and never heavy handed. Every character, even the most heinous, is portrayed as a fully developed human being rather than as stereotype. The violence, which is absolutely necessary, is kept at a bare minimum as a narrative device, explaining and clarifying rather than assaulting the senses. Everyone and everything is there for a reason, and best of all, the audience is given credit for being able to keep up and connect the dots. The film scrupulously avoids clichés and is tightly edited with nary a wasted moment, yet never feels rushed or artificial in performance or plot. Fish and Wildlife Service tracker and an FBI agent, respectively, attempting to solve the murder of a young woman whose body is discovered by Renner under mysterious circumstances as he patrols the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. "Wind River" is a gripping murder mystery-thriller written and directed by Taylor Sheridan (Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominee for "Hell or High Water") starring Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen and Graham Greene, featuring an unusually strong supporting cast that includes many fine Native American actors. |
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