Wind River: Taylor Sheridan Directs and Writes a Stellar Piece of Contemplative Media

 

Taylor Sheridan is a pretty hot name in the industry right now when it comes to all that land he’s bought up and all the shows he’s shooting on it. Sheridan has staked a claim in the television world and it seems he’s going to stay there for awhile. Wind River predates Yellowstone by a year or so, marking Sheridan’s first project as director and writer. By this point he had the Sicario and Hell or High Water script under his belt, and I can see a lot of inspiration from those movies carried over into this. Sheridan’s strength as a writer comes from raw, impactful moments and capturing the true spirit of the outdoors which fits the nature of this movie quite well. Wind River feels more personal than previous Sheridan scripts, capturing the negatives of modern life on a Native American reservation. While the main focus is obviously on the murder that occurred and a quest for justice, but we see brief, impactful glimpses of how rough life is for these people. The father with a disconnect from his culture. The son, he and his friends addicted to drugs. These scenes are so impactful, and I was genuinely heartbroken while watching Wind River. This is by no means a happy movie, it’s very bleak and raw.

Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olson seems like an unusual pairing but they’re acting powerhouses here. Renner is a blend of a lot of cowboy protagonist types but he works so well within that range, commanding your attention when he’s in frame but never overperforming. Olson on the other hand is disconnected from the world of the reservation which creates small, interesting conflicts at points. There’s one scene in particular where Olson is looking to blame to the parents for the death of their daughter before realizing the actuality of the situation, and it’s just so powerful. Another scene with Jon Bernthal carries so much impact with how intense it is, subverting your expectations with the assumption he’s the bad guy. At certain points you can see the cracks in how important conversations are paced with the bigger story, but I think that stems from Sheridan directing and writing. Compared to Sicario, there’s a clear difference in director skill between Sheridan and Villeneuve.

Even without the skills of industry legends to boost the production quality, Taylor Sheridan does a good job directing and an incredible job writing Wind River. The bleak setting of the wintery outdoors makes the story so much more impactful, and that final statement at the very end is going to sit with me for awhile.