WIND RIVER (15)

JUSTICE is blind and frost-bitten in Wind River, an impeccably crafted thriller set on a snowladen Indian reservation, where the murder of a teenager sends a chill through a community riven by bigotry and fear.

Taylor Sheridan, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Hell Or High Water and Sicario, returns to the director’s chair for a highstakes game of cat and mouse in unforgiving terrain.

Working from his own lean script, he vividly brings to life clashes of culture and ideals, punctuated by pulse-quickening scenes of carnage that expose the ugly reality of race relations in present-day America.

Wind River is a survival thriller of the fittest, photographed against breathtaking backdrops described by one character as “the land of You’re On Your Own”.

The central police investigation unfurls with quiet urgency, reflected in the slow-burning intensity of performances from a superb ensemble cast.