100 Words on Jeremy Saulnier's Hold the Dark (2018)

SkarsJoy

By Thomas Puhr

In his fourth feature film, Jeremy Saulnier applies his interest in elemental storytelling (simple motifs of darkness vs. light, revenge, etc.) to a much larger narrative canvas. Famous wolf tracker Russell Core (an understated Jeffrey Wright) travels to Alaska for a job and is embroiled in a sometimes overstuffed plot that tackles parenthood, Native American identity, mysticism, and war in the Middle East, among other things. Perhaps a bit overambitious for its own good, Hold the Dark (2018) nevertheless has its fair share of mesmerizing sequences, especially a remarkable shootout that showcases all of the director's compositional and tension-building finesse.