Tag: Elizabeth Olsen

Wind River

2017   The Weinstein Company

Rated :  R

Length:  1 hr  47min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Mystery ~ Neo-Western ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Taylor Sheridan

Starring:  Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, and Graham Greene.

Nothing Is Harder To Track Than The Truth

Wind River is set in the frozen expanses of Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation, where a local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tracker named Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) discovers the body of a young Native American woman in the snow. Cory instantly recognizes the girl as his best friend Martin Hanson’s (Gil Birmingham) daughter Natalie (Kelsey Asbille). She had run barefoot in the snow for quite a distance as there is nothing around for miles. The cold air finally froze her lungs and she collapsed where Cory found her. The scene sparks a federal investigation led by Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen), a rookie FBI agent flown in from Las Vegas, who was the closest available agent. Far from her comfort zone being originally from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida she is completely out of her element. Sensing Cory’s familiarity with the case and the terrain, she asks him to help her with her investigation. He agrees and the two start looking for the truth about what happened to Natalie.

Natalie had apparently been raped and they order the medical examiner to order a rape kit for testing. Signs of foul play and trauma quickly turn their attention to the young victim’s relationships. They search out her brother Chip who tells them, after a shootout with a drug addict in the drug filled mobile home, that Natalie had been hanging around a security guard named Matt Rayburn (Jon Bernthal) at a remote oil drilling camp. Outside the mobile home Cory notices a snowmobile trail leading up into the mountain. Cory and Jane head up on a snowmobile to investigate and discover the murdered, mutilated body of Natalie’s boyfriend. Cory and Jane recruit the local Tribe police led by Officer Ben Shoyo (Graham Greene) to accompany them out to the remote oil drilling camp to investigate. And it is there that things take a more sinister turn and we see flashbacks of what happened to Natalie and her boyfriend Matt.

Wind River was written and directed by Taylor Sheridan who also wrote Hell Or High Water and Sicario. All three are excellent movies and three of my favorites. Wind River was inspired by the thousands of stories of American Indian women raped, murdered or missing that he discovered in doing research for the story. Although it isn’t based on one specific story, it is the true story of all the missing women from the reservation. I have seen this movie a number of times and when I saw it was on Netflix last night, I had to watch it again. I love everything about this movie. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen are fantastic in this as well as Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, and Graham Greene. A couple of stand out scenes for me are outside the mobile home at the remote oil drilling camp where all hell breaks loose, Cory and Pete at the top of the mountain when he tells Pete that he is going to give him the same chances he gave Natalie, and when Cory goes to see Martin at the end and Martin is sitting out back with his “Death Face” on.

You could feel the heartfelt connection these two old friends have for each other, having each other’s backs in life. We all need friends like that. It is an adrenaline filled snowmobile ride chasing down the truth, filled with unexpected dangers and freezing temps, as Cory and Jane search for the truth, battle the elements, bad actors and the general culture of “looking the other way” on the reservation. As I said, I have seen this numerous times and still enjoy watching it. It is one of my favorites……hmmm, maybe I need a top ten favorite movie list. I’ll have to work on that. So, if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It is a great movie, you should watch it.

Make some popcorn, 

Grab a beverage

and Stream this Movie! 

Currently on Netflix

His Three Daughters

2023   Netflix

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  41min

Drama

Directed by:  Azazel Jacobs

Starring:   Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen.

“Married some crazy bitches, raised some crazy bitches……”

Katie, Rachel and Christina are the daughters of Vincent. They have come to be together with him in his New York Apartment. He is dying of cancer and these are his last days. The three daughters have a lot of issues with each other, some they didn’t know about until spending time together in the small apartment. Hospice worker Angel comes to the house daily to check on Vincent and the three daughters, and to advise them on where they all are in the process. Mirabella the nurse also spends time with Vincent daily looking after him.

Katie is the oldest daughter from Vincent’s first wife. His first wife died and he later remarried a second time, to a woman who already had a child, Rachel. Katie lives across town in Brooklyn, and even though she lived close, didn’t see her Dad Vincent or Rachel very often. She is the more controlling and nagging of the three, constantly on everyone about what they did or didn’t do.

Rachel is the middle daughter and Vince was her stepfather. He raised her as his own even after her mother died. She had been living with, and caring for, Vince for many years. She likes to bet and used to gamble together with Vince. She is also very fond of Marijuana, what you would call a habitual user. One of Katie’s problems with Rachel is her smoking in the apartment, which Rachel used to do all the time before Katie came to visit.

Christina is the youngest daughter, and along with Katie the daughter of Vincent’s first wife. They are sisters. Rachel is their step-sister. Christina lives out of state and doesn’t get to visit very often. She is the more Zen like one of the three. Doing Pilates and meditating, trying to keep a sense of calm between the other two who have a lot of tension between them.

It is at times a sad movie, but what else would you expect, Vincent is dying and they are on pins and needles wondering when the moment will arrive. As they wait, the tension between the three of them mounts and spills over as they lash out at each other. But they do have a common bond and in the end it shows.

It is heartwarming and it is heartbreaking. There is animosity and yet compassion. It is sad and yet there is joy. There is grief and yet relief.

I thought it was a really good movie.

I liked all three of them, although Katie got on my nerves and Christina is a little weird for me.

Yes, I liked Rachel the best.

Definitely worth the watch.

Two Thumbs up!