Wind River

With only a small handful of screenwriting credits to his name, Taylor Sheridan has established himself as someone with a reliably firm grasp of storytelling, character, and a distinctively lean and tough tone.

The drug-war drama Sicario and the Texas bank-robbery thriller Hell Or High Water, of course, benefited greatly from fine casts and talented directors, but Sheridan's worldview and attitude provided the framework.

Wind River sees the former actor stepping behind the camera as well, making his directorial debut with a crime drama that shares some of the stark and sorrowful aspects of his previous work.

It's not quite as accomplished as those other films - Sheridan is still working on the compelling bleakness Denis Villeneuve brought to Sicario or David Mackenzie's spare, evocative handling of Hell Or High Water.

But he shows an attention to small but telling details and a flair for tension that erupts into violence that's very promising, and gives Wind River plenty of impact.

In the frozen wilderness of the Native American reservation that gives the film its title, a young woman's body has been discovered.

Natalie, a Native American teenager, was sexually assaulted and beaten, but it was running for her life in sub zero temperatures that killed her.

That means the local coroner can't label Natalie's death a murder, which infuriates Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen), the FBI agent dispatched to investigate.

So she recruits local tracker and marksman Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), who makes a living "hunting predators" (mainly wolves and mountain lions feeding on livestock and protected animals) to help her search for clues that may enable her to stay on the case.

Lambert found Natalie's body, and he has a personal stake in what happened - she was a friend of his own teenage daughter, who vanished a few years earlier.

That is indicative of the sadness and sense of loss that pervades Wind River - this is an environment that is literally cold and forbidding, one that can strip away dignity and decency, making it dangerous for the unwary and unlucky.

As the local sheriff (Graham Greene) points out to Jane, "this is the land of 'you're on your own'".

But while Sheridan shoots straight when it comes to the harshness of the land and some of its inhabitants, he's also got a keen eye for the strength and sensitivity it takes to lead a life of integrity in such a place.

That's especially evident in the character of Lambert, and in Renner's rock-solid performance, maybe his most effective since his breakout turn in The Hurt Locker.

Combine that with the no-nonsense work of the versatile Olsen, and Wind River is a gripping procedural that packs a hell of a punch.