I'd be very happy if it never again snowed in NYC, but I love snowy landscapes in films. Last night I watched
Wind River (2017), courtesy of Netflix. It is a refreshingly simple story. A tracker for Wildlife and Preservation in a remote area of Wyoming, played by Jeremy Renner, finds the frozen body of a young Native American woman. What happened? The FBI is summoned. The closest available agent is a beautiful young woman stationed in Vegas, played by Elizabeth Olsen. The two team with authorities of a Reservation to investigate. The mood is somber, as unforgiving as the harsh environment. I will never understand why people choose to live in such a place. Renner's character is motivated by a psychological burden he is carrying. The climactic scenes are intense and viscerally satisfying. As expected, there is much mistrust and animosity between the indians and whites. Fortunately, the scenario never stoops to preaching. According to a blurb at the end, many Native American women are abused and go missing. Renner is as solid as always as the hardy lead. Olsen had the more difficult role. Her performance is not easy to judge because it is still hard to imagine a beautiful woman being as tough and authoritative as a male, at least in a serious role, one outside the action genre. Her character is treated respectfully by writer/director Taylor Sheridan. She behaves professionally and allows the locals to guide her through the unfamiliar territory. Graham Greene, always a welcome presence, is outstanding as the local, low-key sheriff. John Bernthal appears briefly. For his effort, Sheridan was awarded the top prize for directing at the Cannes Film Festival. It was only his third stint at the helm. He wrote the screenplay for the superb
Hell or High Water (2016), for which he received an Oscar nomination. I look forward to his future work. 114,000+ users at IMDb have rated
Wind River, forging to a consensus of 7.8 on a scale of ten, which is on the money by me. Made on a budget of "only" $11 million, it returned $40 million worldwide. It runs less than two hours. Those turned off by downbeat material and violence should pass. Here's a still of Greene, Olsen and Renner:
I visited my godmother today, motivated by an angry note about my negligence she sent via Facebook Messenger. I wonder what percentage of people her age, 88, use the internet. She is one of a kind. Her eldest son and his two daughters were there. We had a lot of laughs reminiscing. I'd always wondered if my late brother in law had read my first novel,
Close to the Edge. Now I know - and he wasn't too happy about the portrayal of a character that is a lot like he was. Of course, no one leaves an Italian-American household without food. The chicken cutlet
fritata was delicious.
Grazie asai, Padrozza.
My thanks to the kind folks who bought wares today at the floating book shop. I had a visit from Bill Brown, author of
Words and Guitar: A History of Lou Reed's Music. He purchased an R&B compilation and an antho by Ricky Nelson. I asked a favor of him. Since the silence has been deafening and the sales putrid on my latest novel,
Present and Past, I offered him a copy in exchange for his opinion. He has read three of my other books and posted positive reviews at Amazon. I know he will be objective and unbiased. Thank you, sir.
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