Crisp Criticism - "Logan Lucky", "Wind River", "Una"

by

Julien Faddoul

Logan Lucky **

Two brothers attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina.

Perfectly enjoyable Soderbergh romp with all his expected touches including long takes, breezy performances, a heist plot and caricatured humour on simple-minded America. Certain story vistas seem frivolous, but the whole is a joy.

d – Steven Soderbergh

w – Rebecca Blunt

ph – Peter Andrews

pd – Howard Cummings

m – David Holmes

ed – Mary Ann Bernard

cos – Ellen Mirojnick

p – Reid Carolin, Dan Fellman, Gregory Jacobs

Cast: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, Hilary Swank, Dwight Yoakam, Sebastian Stan, Farrah Mackenzie, Brian Gleeson, Jack Quaid

Wind River *

An FBI agent teams with the town’s veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.

A nice try at combining an investigative thriller with political statements on the ongoing mistreatment of Native Americans that makes the fatal mistake of saddling the audience with a white guide – and a boring one at that. The result ends up being much tamer that the filmmakers clearly intended.

wd – Taylor Sheridan

ph – Ben Richardson

pd – Neil Spisak

m – Nick Cave, Warren Ellis

ed – Gary D. Roach

cos – Kari Perkins

p – Elizabeth A. Bell, Peter Berg, Matthew George, Basil Iwanyk, Wayne Rogers

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, Julia Jones, Graham Greene, Kelsey Asbille, Martin Sensmeier, Tyler Laracca, Tokala Clifford

Una *

A young woman unexpectedly arrives at the work of the man with whom she had a traumatic sexual relationship with at 13.

Phoney, enervated character drama derived from the stage that irritates with every conspicuous symbolic gesture made by its director. It endures on typically fierce work from Mendelsohn.

d – Benedict Andrews

w – David Harrower   (Based on the Play by David Harrower)

ph – Thimios Bakatakis

pd – Fiona Crombie

m – Jed Kurzel

ed – Nick Fenton

cos – Steven Noble

p – Jean Doumanian, Patrick Daly, Maya Amsellem

Cast: Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed, Indira Varma, Tara Fitzgerald, Tobias Menzies, Poppy Corby-Tuech