Watch “Hold the Dark,” Then Watch It Over Again

The latest Jeremy Saulnier film, “Hold the Dark,” carries on with Saulnier’s affinity for deeply atmospheric and truly horrific violence that borders on the grotesque.

His previous films have included the slow-burning revenge film “Blue Ruin” and the ultra-violent thriller “Green Room”—both displaying an impressive sense of filmmaking control and craft in their approach to storytelling and shooting.

“Hold the Dark” is Saulnier’s most ambitious work to date. He builds off the themes of dark and grimy environments and sets his story in an Alaskan village. The initial hook of the story is that Mrs. Sloane, played by Riley Keough, employs an author named Russell Core who is an expert on wolves, to track and kill the wolf that killed her son. Her husband, Vernon, is fighting in Afghanistan, and she wishes to have the skin of the wolf to show him as a symbol of revenge. The author agrees and embarks on a scenic journey through the wilderness.

During this, we are treated to an ambiance of the weird and macabre, with scenes such as when Mrs. Sloane is shown chanting in a bathtub late at night— a wolf mask on her face. From there, Core discovers that the wolves aren’t at fault and after some light detective work discovers her son’s body in the basement of her house.

From there, the plot becomes arbitrary and in many ways completely muddled, as her husband returns and in a bizarre twist is actually just as psychopathic as she is. The last hour and a half of this film is devoted entirely to her husband’s quest to kill his wife, and to Core, as he desperately attempts to catch up.

The best aspects of the film are the technical aspects and the performances of the actors. The actor Jeffrey Wright, who plays Russell Core, puts forth a fantastic performance as an author who is in well over his head.

There is a scene in which he hunts a group of wolves and, as he is watching them, falls down the snow-covered hills and rolls close to them. His gun falls away from him and the wolves come looking for blood, but after a short standoff, they leave. The scene is incredibly intense, but is all conveyed through Wright’s facial expressions and body language, which show a man who knows that he is weaker than a pack of wolves, but must appear to be superior.

The other actors’ performances are equally excellent, with Alexander Skarsgård playing the psychopathic husband perfectly.  

Prime examples are when his face is almost entirely stone— like when he mercilessly disembowels a fellow soldier that he caught raping a woman.

There are a plethora of scenes like this that are so stunning and beautiful that the plot needn’t make sense for the film to be effective.

The problems with this film are with its plot. The narrative rides a fine line between extremely stupid and extremely thrilling. It is as if Saulnier already had certain scenes in mind, such as when the wife dons the wolf mask, but had no idea how they would fit into the actual narrative.

In many ways, it gives off a bit of the “avant-garde, bring your own interpretation” kind of logic. This is frustrating, given his immense skill, but when you can shoot a movie as beautifully as he can, there aren’t many stories you can’t make work.

If you like interesting art films, this should be high on your watch-list. If you’re looking for a Michael Bay, Zach Snyder explosion fest, then this is probably not for you.

Grade: 8.632/10