Just because one is a fan of the director (Saulnier), or the actors, does not mean that you have to force yourself to like a mediocre movie.
There were a lot of people who did not like the novel because of its violence and open ending, but if they would watch the movie, they would have loved the book! There are so many explanations given in the novel that the violence never feels gratuitous by juxtaposing man vs nature, underlining incest, how the Natives keep together, their myths, sins.... Medora and Vernon are actually twins, and there father killed himself because he could not heal Vernon's "unnatural" state, whose death also explains the many senseless murders he is perpetrating. Medora is angry that Vernon left her although promising that he would never do so, so she avenges herself by killing their son, whose "sickness" is due to his bloodline.. So many explanations left out, also the ending which tells how the Slones live in the wilderniss in an hidden igloo, Medora again pregnant.
The movie suffers from the poor editing, simple narrative and absurd dialogues. I wished someone else, maybe from Alaska or Canada would have directed this movie with respect to the Natives, and the strange couple who should have been in the foreground of the movie, and not Core or Det. Marium. (Thinking of Kim Nguyen, e.g.) There is actually so much mysticism, folklore, forbidden sins and telepathic bond in this old, and desolate village. The book also discloses why Medora got the wolf mask, and how it changed her. In the movie, the only scene between the couple is at the end, and they absolutely have no chemistry... which is a real shame. Slone's animalistic nature was told many times in the novel, as in the inn when he sleeps in the bed where Medora slept. He smells and licks the bed, then masturbates. In the end, they also have animalistic and nude sex in the hot spring while Core lies there in pain. All of that was left out... the first half of the movie could have been shortened so that the second half could focus on the relationship and the mystery surrounding the village and the couple.
Also, there was absolutely no need to show te rape scene in the beginning in Iraq. It is an artistic and stylistic decision how to proceed this scene, but one could have shown how the soldier chases the girl, but showing the rape in a close shot should have been left out, it is traumatizng and totally takes the attention from the next scene where Slone gets injured, as it is hard at that moment to care for him.
I love slow-paced indie movies, especially when it has beautiful landscape or animal shots, however this movie suffers enormously from the lack of character motivation and development, no intense scenes (besides the shootout) and no facial expressions of the characters. The emphasis should have been on the Slones, their family, Cheeon (Julian Black Antelope IS SUCH A GREAT ACTOR!!!!), and the shaman Illanaq (Tantoo Cardinal awesomeness). Shame.
I have watched two Q&A videos on youtube after the premieres of that movie, and Saulnier states that they left many things unexplained but he himself was puzzled, and added that he wanted to show realism but also kept the mystery of what the characters believe, and that he just wanted to direct and not really focused on the plot... basically, style over substance! Well, that's not how you approach a movie with a 30+million budget. Netflix,really, should not allow so much creative freedom to directors. Not everyone is Dee Rees.
All in all, I don't give the movie less than a 6/10 seeing the effort, good acting, beautiful cinematography of the cold, god-forsaken winter landscapes (of Alberta, Canada, not Alaska!).
There were a lot of people who did not like the novel because of its violence and open ending, but if they would watch the movie, they would have loved the book! There are so many explanations given in the novel that the violence never feels gratuitous by juxtaposing man vs nature, underlining incest, how the Natives keep together, their myths, sins.... Medora and Vernon are actually twins, and there father killed himself because he could not heal Vernon's "unnatural" state, whose death also explains the many senseless murders he is perpetrating. Medora is angry that Vernon left her although promising that he would never do so, so she avenges herself by killing their son, whose "sickness" is due to his bloodline.. So many explanations left out, also the ending which tells how the Slones live in the wilderniss in an hidden igloo, Medora again pregnant.
The movie suffers from the poor editing, simple narrative and absurd dialogues. I wished someone else, maybe from Alaska or Canada would have directed this movie with respect to the Natives, and the strange couple who should have been in the foreground of the movie, and not Core or Det. Marium. (Thinking of Kim Nguyen, e.g.) There is actually so much mysticism, folklore, forbidden sins and telepathic bond in this old, and desolate village. The book also discloses why Medora got the wolf mask, and how it changed her. In the movie, the only scene between the couple is at the end, and they absolutely have no chemistry... which is a real shame. Slone's animalistic nature was told many times in the novel, as in the inn when he sleeps in the bed where Medora slept. He smells and licks the bed, then masturbates. In the end, they also have animalistic and nude sex in the hot spring while Core lies there in pain. All of that was left out... the first half of the movie could have been shortened so that the second half could focus on the relationship and the mystery surrounding the village and the couple.
Also, there was absolutely no need to show te rape scene in the beginning in Iraq. It is an artistic and stylistic decision how to proceed this scene, but one could have shown how the soldier chases the girl, but showing the rape in a close shot should have been left out, it is traumatizng and totally takes the attention from the next scene where Slone gets injured, as it is hard at that moment to care for him.
I love slow-paced indie movies, especially when it has beautiful landscape or animal shots, however this movie suffers enormously from the lack of character motivation and development, no intense scenes (besides the shootout) and no facial expressions of the characters. The emphasis should have been on the Slones, their family, Cheeon (Julian Black Antelope IS SUCH A GREAT ACTOR!!!!), and the shaman Illanaq (Tantoo Cardinal awesomeness). Shame.
I have watched two Q&A videos on youtube after the premieres of that movie, and Saulnier states that they left many things unexplained but he himself was puzzled, and added that he wanted to show realism but also kept the mystery of what the characters believe, and that he just wanted to direct and not really focused on the plot... basically, style over substance! Well, that's not how you approach a movie with a 30+million budget. Netflix,really, should not allow so much creative freedom to directors. Not everyone is Dee Rees.
All in all, I don't give the movie less than a 6/10 seeing the effort, good acting, beautiful cinematography of the cold, god-forsaken winter landscapes (of Alberta, Canada, not Alaska!).