Had to see this film on the big screen so went down to Laemmle's Monica Film Center (the only screen it has in the entire city, thanks to Netflix) and checked it out.

I really like Saulnier/Blair's films and this is a great addition to their filmography. Probably like others, I was expecting a thriller along the lines of The Grey and less an allegorical drama that draws parallels between hunters in nature and hunters in war but this is trying something new and I like that.

Magnus Nordenhof Jønck's cinematography is tight.

“now you understand about the sky, don’t you”

at first i was sure this was going to lack the tense bite of his past two films, going into more ambiguously atmospheric terrain, but eventually this rears it’s ugly head and bites back like i was hoping it would. this is definitely jeremy saulnier: still focusing on the violent decisions of people and the absolute chaos that crackles in the air in the aftermath. the slow burn of reality and how meaningless and ruthless the most horrific moments in life can be

these moments left me stunned, but felt too aimless to be fully appreciated. and the rest too vague to fully get a grasp on. i’m glad this surprised me a little, yet it still didn’t really satisfy what i wanted it to. but i think i knew that going in

near-parody of this kind of completely miserable, deliberate, portentous "men… nature… violence…  animals" stuff. At least The Grey tapped into a deeply wounded Neeson at the time, recognized that as the most compelling on-screen energy and ran with it. This has got career-worst performances from most of its major cast (except James Badge Dale, who somehow comes out looking good in everything for whatever reason), who are almost uniformly operating in the exact same brooding, whispery "this has Themes" register. Frequently comes alive in the action at least, there's an exceptionally brutal shootout about an hour in, but almost all of it is actively deflated by the slow, methodical style Saulnier seems to think provide this with meaning. Huge step down from the passively anxious, unpretentious Green Room imo, that managed to say—and make you feel—way more by simply diagnosing a vicious situation and then brutally sustaining it for 90 mins.

Despite a bit of straining to be About Something this is still very good. No less violent and engrossing but a bit too rigidly controlled, a bit too austere; I prefer the panicky uncertainty of Saulnier's previous stuff.

everytime jeremy saulnier wants to direct a new feature i like to think he throws darts at a globe and roles a dice to decide which group of people he wants to get revenge on next and where

"so in my next feature we will be brutally murdering *rolls dice* furries in *spins globe* alaska"

A pretty subpar entry to the RKPASAIYMCU (Riley Keogh Playing A Sad And Irresponsible Young Mother Cinematic Universe)

James Badge Dale continues to be the secret star of every movie he's in.

the dark: *is held*

"Hold the Dark" is such a strange film to me. I really loved the premise of a hunter (Jeffrey Wright) hired to hunt down the wolf accused of killing a young boy in Alaska, but is instead drawn into a dark mystery and the sights of murderous cult. It's really interesting, well acted, has some gorgeous cinematography and some genuinely brutal moments. But rather than being the memorable mystery thriller it had all the potential of being, instead it's simply 'fine'.

I had a decent time, but it never does enough. Never gets out of 3rd gear, never takes any risks and never truly capitalises on these excellent ingredients. I was just left desperately wanting more but not in the best way. Watchable, but equally disappointing because it could have been so much better.

My Last Review: | Borderlands |

TIFF18 Film #20:

I'm not sure if I missed something while watching "Hold the Dark" but I felt pretty cold while watching it and not physically. This movie has maybe about 80 minutes of material and it's stretched to over 2 hours and the deliberately slow pace certainly doesn't help. The ending definitely was less than satisfying also. But on the bright side this film looks absolutely beautiful, contains solid performances from the cast namely from underrated James Badge Dale who was the only character I actually cared for, and has an absolutely breathtaking shootout in the middle. And even though this was very slow paced I was never bored while watching it so i'll give it that too. This definitely could be a movie that gets better on another watch but for now I can sadly say I was pretty unimpressed with Jeremy Saulnier's latest.