Dutch action filmmaker Roel Reiné directs, composes, and shoots the new survival thriller “Savage Hunt”. The film falls into the ‘Man versus Beast‘ category, centering itself around the bloody rampage of a giant bear in a sleepy Montana community. It’s a fairly straightforward genre movie that attempts to add several human layers to its story. But staying involved becomes difficult due to the film’s clear budget constraints and a paper-thin script that glosses over everything that could have made the story more interesting.

Screenwriters Chad Law and Christopher Jolley begin their story with two eco-activists making their way through the wilderness after scoping out a newly cleared construction site sitting in the middle of the pristine forest. The site belongs to a multinational conglomerate with plans of building a massive resort and spa. But as the activists are planning their sabotage, they are attacked and torn to shreds by a ravenous grizzly bear.

After discovering one of the victims and recognizing a bear attack, Sheriff Riggins (Colin Mace) and a local park ranger Kate Deeks (Fotina Papatheodorou) order the site to be shut down until they can hunt down the grizzly. Initially the site manager, Jace (Anthony Barclay) isn’t happy with their order. But he’s a bit preoccupied with the arrival of his wife Lacey (Noush Skaugen) and their daughter Alex (Priya Blackburn).

In the film’s most underdeveloped side stories, we learn Jace and Lacey are separated and she has brought divorce papers to be signed. There’s also some kind of disconnect between Jace and Alex which never fully forms into something relatable. In fact nothing about their family drama feels authentic. It’s not helped by the cold and stiff performances. But it’s mostly the script which only glazes over the themes it introduces rather than give them meaningful attention.

To add even more drama, more attacks lead Kate to seek help from Joe Regan (James Oliver Wheatley), a tormented local hunter and former ranger who she shares a traumatic history with Kate. After declining due to vague reasons that eventually gets explained (sorta), Joe reluctantly agrees and sets out to track the bear. Of course he ultimately comes face-to-face with the beast. But in the process, Joe is forced to reckon with his own haunting ghosts from the past.

Again, none of the human drama has much of an impact. And it’s hard to root for anyone when they’re constantly making bone-headed decisions, such as always finding ways to put themselves in the most dangerous positions. But at least we have the human vs. bear action, right? Well, not exactly. Much of the movie consists of people slow-walking through the scenic forest and what looks like stock footage of a bear running around in the wild. The lone exception is one weird scene of the bear randomly running down the Main Street of a small town.

Of course we’re treated to several bear kills which unfortunately range from serviceable to awkwardly bad. And other issues spring up along the way such as the shaky editing and the abrupt ending that seems strange for a movie already struggling to fill its 85 minutes. And it doesn’t help that “Savage Hunt” takes itself so seriously. It’s a mostly dour and joyless endeavor that would have been much better off embracing its absurdity. Instead we end up with a glacially paced, frustratingly hollow, and ultimately forgettable snooze.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

“Sentimental Value” is the latest film from director Joachim Trier and his follow-up to 2022’s Oscar-nominated “The Worse Person in the World”. It sees him rejoining his regular writing partner Eskil Vogt to tell a resonant and layered story that uses the behind-the-scenes drama of a film shoot to explore the idea of reconciliation through art. It’s tricky ground to cover, but Trier succeeds thanks to his keen focus and tight grip on this mature and thoughtful material.

Trier also reteams with the extraordinary actress Renate Reinsve for their third collaboration. She plays a stage and television actress named Nora Borg. She and her younger sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) have their world shaken when their estranged father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård) re-enters their lives. Gustav left when the girls were still young and his reappearance brings back waves of painful feelings, especially for Nora.

Gustav has had a successful filmmaking career, but it has come at the expense of his relationships with his daughters. Yet despite his success, Gustav hasn’t released a feature film in fifteen years. But he has written a new script – one that is very close to his heart. And he uses it in as a means of reaching out to his daughters in the only way he competently knows how – through the very artistic language that pulled him away in the beginning.

In one of the film’s (and one of the year’s) very best scenes, Gustav invites Nora to a diner where they can finally have what he calls a “proper talk”. The father-daughter tension is immediate and it comes through in every word penned by Trier and Vogt. It also pours from the profoundly genuine performances of Reinsve and Skarsgård, who shrewdly convey the emotional complexities within their characters. The exchanges that follow are riveting.

Gustav tells Nora he has written what he thinks is the best script of his career. He presents her with a copy to read saying he wants her to play the lead. Galled by his nerve, a stunned Nora angrily rejects his offer. “I wrote it for you,” he declares as if expecting her to immediately reconsider. “You’re the only one who can play it.” As Nora storms out, we are naturally sympathetic to her side. But Trier doesn’t paint Gustav as a villain. Instead he leaves us with our own questions about the character. Is Gustav’s script just a tool to get back in his daughters’ good graces? Is he using Nora to get extra funding for his film? Or is there something deeper and more personal?

“Sentimental Value” is a movie about daddies and daughters. But it’s also a movie about sisters. Nora and Agnes have a thoughtfully drawn relationship that grew stronger with every family trial they endured together. Agnes seems to have the more stable life. She’s happily married and has an adorable young son. Nora’s prickly veneer hides a vulnerability that weighs on her soul. She struggles with anxiety and loneliness, trying to satisfy both with ill-advised choices that hurt more than help. But the sisters share a special connection that Trier observes through various lenses.

Another crucial character in the film happens to be the family’s ancestral home which houses several generations of memories and trauma. Gustav still owns the house – a fact his daughters learned after their mother died. Gustav was raised there, and the secrets within its walls inform why he’s reluctant to part with it. He’s still wrestling with those secrets which date back to his own childhood, and his new film is his way of reckoning with it.

The richly observed family dynamics only get more compelling with each dramatic turn. One of the biggest comes when Gustav decides to shoot his new film in the family’s house. Even more, he brings in Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), a popular American actress, to play the lead role that Nora turned down. It’s a compelling turn of events that allows Trier to take Nora and Gustav in revealing new directions which poignantly help to define their relationship.

“Sentimental Value” sees Joachim Trier cementing himself as one of the must-see filmmakers of our time. Some may argue he had already achieved that status. But his latest film is his best to date. In it we see Trier broadening his focus yet maintaining the intimacy that has made his other films so incisive and nuanced. His considerations of fractured relationships, past family trauma, and art as a means of healing have significant weight and are delivered with such an assured sense of purpose that we can’t help but be utterly captivated by the drama that unfolds on screen.

VERDICT – 4 STARS