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maltatoday 10 | SUNDAY • 7 OCTOBER 2018 FILM FILM HOLD THE DARK HOLD ON TO SOMETHING HOLD THE FORT PLEASE HOLD HOLD MY BEER Teodor Reljic ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ IT'S a tale as old as time, but we're not talking about Beauty and the Beast here. Or may- be we are. Jeremy Saulnier's fourth feature film appears to revel in these primordial di- chotomies. Released via Netf- lix and featuring Jeffrey Wright embroiled in a strange fam- ily saga in the Northernmost Alaskan wilderness – specifi- cally, the ludicrously off-the- beaten track, and entirely in- vented, town of Keelut – Hold the Dark is a tantalisingly vio- lent horror-thriller that exists on the right side of macho and serves up what is likely the best cinematic shootout since Micheal Mann's 'Heat' (1995). Holding the fort at Keelut while her husband Vernon Sloane (Alexander Sarsgaard) is stationed in Iraq, Medora (Riley Keough) wakes up one morning to discover that her son is gone, likely taken by the wolves that orbit around their wintry cottage for scraps. In what is a confusing move that the film – based on the novel by William Giraldi – never quite goes about to jus- tifying, Medora does not call upon the authorities to help her look for her son. Instead, she decides to summon the retired naturalist Russel Core (Wright) after perusing a well- thumbed copy of his non-fic- tion novel, detailing – among other things – how he once tracked down and killed a wolf out of necessity. Battling with his own de- mons, Russel soon finds him- self out of his depth, and when Vernon returns from duty, events take a terrifying - and baffling - downward spiral. Saulier works in tandem with frequent collaborator Macon Blair here, who appears as a supporting player years after headlining Saulnier's break- through, partly-crowdfunded feature Blue Ruin (2015), and successfully dipping his toes into filmmaking waters with another high-concept Netflix release, the Elijah Wood-star- ring I'm Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore (2017). Together, the duo make for something of a vanguard of high-powered American indie filmmaking, coming out with genre releases that eschew the saccharine mainstream while still delivering the thrills – Saulnier's previous film was The Green Room (2015); a stripped down, set-in-one- location punks-vs-Neo Nazis thrill-fest that couldn't scream 'cult' any harder if it tried (and it does try). A tendency towards the vio- lent side of things also per- vades across his oeuvre, mak- ing him feel like a sleeker and more earnest Quentin Taran- tino of our times – his pre- dilection towards characters from the fringes to American life bolsters the comparison – and Hold the Dark, with its higher budget and higher con- cept stakes, is a definite leap forward without being too far a sidestep. The violence is as dripping- ly, crunchingly visceral as in Saulnier's previous features, and given the explicit horror trappings that envelop this one – one part Wicker Man (1973), one part Kill List (2011) – it makes for an appropriately disturbing stylistic blend. Oh, and did I mention the shootout? Well, I'll mention it again. Delivered with Bibli- cal rage by Vernon's Native comrade Cheeon, played with deliciously badass gusto by the soulful but no-nonsense Julian Black Antelope, it does somewhat jar with what is an otherwise moody and elliptical piece about both our unspo- ken proximity to our natural predilections, and our inability to reconcile with them in an enduring fashion. But damn it if the blistering set piece isn't the Sam Peck- inpah moment of the Netflix generation. "Worth the price of admission" may not be an apposite term to use when talking about a film 'freely' available on a streaming ser- vice, but you get my drift. The harsh Alaskan wilderness is the setting for Jeremy Saulnier's latest slice of satisfying ultra-violence spiced with existential musing H O L D T H E D A R K ( 16 + ) ★ ★ ★ ★ The verdict Violent, grisly but with a contemplative and melan- choly underbelly, Hold the Dark marks a clear evolu- tionary step for indie direc- tor Jeremy Saulnier, who continues to buck the main- stream trend while still de- livering satisfying cinematic chops – on the small screen or otherwise. Hold the Dark is currently streaming on Netflix Blood on the snow Tracking the ice: Riley Keough and Jeffrey Wright make for unlikely wolf-tracking partners in Jeremy Saulnier's latest horror-thriller