If you have been viewing the state movies have been in for the past five years, you would definitely notice the death of the mid budget movie. For quite some time now, studios only seem concerned with either making a huge blockbuster with a budget of 150 million dollars or more, or a tiny indie movies that cost 10 million dollars or less. The mid 60-80 million dollar movies are slowly starting to go away from theaters with every passing year, and one genre that is really suffering from this is the psychological thriller. Movies like “The Silence of the Lambs”, “Se7en”, and “No Country for Old Men” were all seen as mid budget movies when they came out and received both huge commercial and critical success during their times of release. But today, with the rare exception when a movie like “Gone Girl” comes out, movies like these that deal with this type of subject matter and themes seem to be a rarity now. However, psychological thrillers have slowly been transfering over into independent cinema, which have proved to be a great mix over the years. One indie film maker who has been turning out great thriller over the past couple years is Taylor Sheridan. In 2015, he wrote the dark and atmospheric cartel drama “Sicario”. In 2016, he wrote the incredibly smart and extremely relevant modern western “Hell or High Water”. And this year, he takes the helm of the directors chair with the murder mystery “Wind River”, which is equal parts dark and equal parts intriguing.

“Wind River” is set in Wyoming on the Wind River Indian Reservation. After a call is reported about murdered livestock, Wildlife Service agent and big game hunter Corey Lambert, played by Jeremy Renner, is sent out to investigate. As he investigates the scene, he follows the tracks of the predators who slaughtered the livestock and happens upon the corpse of Natalie Hanson, played by Kelsey Chow. Suspecting foul play, Lambert enlists the help of FBI agent Jane Banner, played by Elizabeth Olsen, in order to find the culprit in this murder. This film includes things that I really appreciated, and one of those things is its multifaceted story. At the foreground of this film, you have a murder mystery, which is welcome. We don’t get to many mystery films now a days, so its always a relief when we do. There are many twists and turns in this movie that you often find your self just as lost as the characters because you have no idea what is going on. But the background of this film is just as dark as the mystery surrounding it, as it deals with the mistreatment of Native Americans on these reservations. We see just how badly the government of Wyoming have treated these groups of people and how their living conditions have shaped who they have become. Show up at the Hanson’s house to learn more about her possible whereabouts that night, the Hanson’s originally resent the help due to how they have been treated in the past. The fact that this tribe have been forced to live on this reservation and have received no help from the government other than oil drilling’s happening on their reservation turns this film into a very powerful and thought provoking movie. These scenes not only help serve the story, but also makes the Wind River Reservation seems as if it’s a character all in of itself. Speaking of characters, this film is filled with great actors giving great performances as these as these extremely realistic characters. Elizabeth Olsen is great in this film as an FBI agent who is completely out of her element in this environment. You see that despite the fact that she has handled murder cases, she has never experienced one in a location like this where the people she is trying to help are so hostile. Her performance reminded me of Jodie Foster’s performance in “Silence of the Lambs”, in which despite being new to these situations, she never at any point seems helpless, and this is accentuated by Olsen’s performance. Jeremy Renner definitely brings the heart to this movie as his character is trying to hide and get away from his dark past. You see in Renner’s performance that despite him trying to remain professional, you know that this case effects him on a personal level due sorrow towards the situation. This is the best performance I have ever seen from Jeremy Renner. Not because it’s incredibly showy, but because it’s incredibly subtle as he plays emotions such as sadness, anger, and intimidation in such an understated way. However, my favorite performance of the film comes from Gil Birmingham, who plays the father Natalie Hanson, Martin Hanson. Birmingham gives an extremely emotional performance as you see that he doesn’t want any help from the police as they have not helped him in the past. He only has around ten minutes of screen time, but every single one of those minutes is filled with both depression for his daughters loss and anger due to how his people have been treated. The only reason why he decides to work with the police is due to Corey opening about his past, in which he finally reluctantly agrees to help. My favorite scene in this film includes Martin and Corey looking out at the reservation. Saying anything more about this scene would be a spoiler, but it is equal parts beautiful and sad. The powerful performances and powerful story of this movie help make it such a thought provoking and memorable film.

The perfect way to describe the pacing of this film is that it is most definitely a slow burn. This is not a very loud movie by any means, and some people might wonder if this sort of pacing will make the movie come off as boring. While this is a slow movie, it is most certainly not boring, as each scene helps move the story along in some way. There is not a moment that goes by in this film where you are not either learning about the murder or the treatment of Native Americans on the reservation. This movie is an hour and fifty minutes and you will be engaged through out that entire run time it sis constantly setting up the story and establishing its world. This movie rarely ever feels as if it is talking down to the audience, as it never tries to over explain itself and instead shows its story as opposed to telling it. I say rarely because this leads me into my one major complaint about the movie, and that is when you learn who murdered Natalie. Without giving away any spoilers, you learn who the murderer is through a flashback that is placed right in the middle of a scene. I’ve never been one to say that flashbacks are lazy storytelling, but it was extremely annoying that as I was in the middle of watching this incredibly tense scene play out in the movie, a flashback started to show us how and why the murder took place. While the scene in the flashback was good, it just came off as distracting. This movie very much benefits from having a more quiet direction, as it allows you to appreciate all of the directing techniques. For one, this film is incredibly atmospheric. You put straight into the cold and desolate regions of Wyoming, and due to the way this movie is shot and filmed, you feel as if you are actually there. You feel cold while while watching this movie and you feel empty in this location. The atmosphere constantly gives off the awful and dark experience in living in a place that is so cut off from urban or suburban society as you watch these incredible tracking shots Wyoming. The use of an ambient score is also very welcome, as it fills you with a certain sense of dread. While the score to this film can be beautiful at times, the score often leaves you feeling incredibly tense when you are watching these uncomfortable situations. While this movie is slow, when the pace does pick up in this movie, you most definitely feel it. This is a very brutal movie as you yourself feel every bit of violence seen on screen. This doesn’t feel like your average movie violence but feels like something you would actually witness on a crime tape. When gunshots are fired in this movie, it matters, and when people start dying in this movie, you have a guttural reaction of “oh my gosh, people are dying”. The reason why this film gets these reactions is because the violence feels so real. There is a scene in this film Jane gets pepper sprayed by a escaping drug dealer and it’s honestly hard to watch to it being so well directed It also helps that whenever tense scenes are happening, the score of the film stops to add a sense of realism. These are some of the most brutal and gut wrenching action scenes I have seen in quite some time, and you will often find yourself wincing in your seat due to the lack of style and glorification of the violence. When a writer takes the directors chair for the first time, you often end up with mixed results. But as for Taylor Sheridan, he passed this test with flying colors.

For the third time in a row, Taylor Sheridan has delivered a small budget thriller with an underlying message beneath. First with “Sicario” as he showed how the business of the cartels make the drug war futile attempt, then with “Hell or High Water” where he showed how far citizens in middle America will go in order to financially stable in the wake of the awful economy, and now with “Wind River” where he showed the mistreatment of Native Americans throughout the years and how your environment will shape who you are. While I don’t “Wind River” is as good as those other two movies, it’s still an incredibly powerful film that is excellent in its own right. In the end, “Wind River” is well written and well directed thriller that leaves you feeling many emotions after watching the film. If you enjoy dark films, then I would strongly recommend you see this movie in the theatres. This one movie that will definitely leave you frozen after the credits.