So I just watched Wind River. Now I'm sad.

If you’re not familiar, Wind River is a movie about an FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) recruiting a local hunter (Jeremy Renner) to solve a murder. 

Wind River is a very particular kind of thriller. It’s one of those somber murder mysteries where everything is grey and the world is a humorless void. The characters are all damaged and broken. It reminds me of Mystic River in its unrelenting pessimism. 

It’s in its setting that the movie defines itself. The movie takes place in a small mountainous Indian reservation. It’s cold, poor, and isolated and those aspects play a part in every moment of the movie. Whether it’s in character motivation or in actual events happening on screen you can feel the setting bearing down at all times. 

Overall I didn’t have fun watching this movie. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. It had a story to tell and it told it well. It was well acted for the most part (I thought the killer was a little overdone and lost some believability.) The setting was fully fleshed out. Most importantly there was a palpable sense of tension at several points through the movie. I give Wind River 25 out of 31 snowmobiles. 

Stray Thoughts:

• This movie reminded me a lot of Winter’s Bone. Both in tone and its exploration of darkness in small towns. 
• Some of the impact is lessened when the old couple in the row behind me keeps saying all the subtext out loud.