Jaap van Heusden and Vinnie Karetak’s icy drama-thriller In Alaska had its world premiere at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, in the Special Presentations strand.

After an attempt at self-harm goes desperately wrong, an Inuk teenager called Woody (Leo Matthew Temela) finds himself at the centre of a national crisis, an errant bullet having pierced the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The youth, suddenly branded an eco-terrorist, is thus forced to flee the small Alaskan village he has always called home. With nowhere else to turn, he heads north towards Nunavut in search of family members he has never met, hoping they will take him in. While running from the consequences of his mistake, Woody finds himself facing isolation and despair, and having to find new reasons to be alive. In the meantime, the fierce Susan Tarheel (Noomi Rapace), an FBI agent, is put in charge of the manhunt to track him down.

The 108-minute film, spoken in both English and Inuktitut, maintains a high level of tension throughout. At times, however, it risks losing focus, as the cat-and-mouse dynamic between the two protagonists can feel somewhat repetitive. Despite this, the geographical location in which the story is set certainly helps make it feel distinctive and original. In fact, the scenes shot in the snow, some of them underwater, are absolutely spectacular from a production standpoint. In Alaska may have its flaws, but it is important to acknowledge the practical difficulties involved in achieving shots of this kind.

Looking at the screenplay co-written by the directors, the story comes out as relatively compelling, but the performances of the two protagonists (particularly from newcomer Temela, who outshines more experienced Rapace) also serve it well – even if at times, the fact that the narrative is shaped by a shifting balance of power between them can make us lose interest in their actions as such, instead drawing our attention to the beauty of the remote landscapes, enhanced by Martijn van Broekhuizen’s carefully balanced cinematography and the production design of Tiana Gordon and Cheryl Marion. This being said, in a cinematic landscape increasingly dominated by films that prioritise a snappy sense of action over visual language, perhaps we should ask ourselves: is that necessarily a bad thing?

What remains certain is that Jaap van Heusden and Vinnie Karetak’s film is not for the faint-hearted – for instance, in several scenes, Woody is seen eating various kinds of animals raw. Thus, there are moments when the film becomes something more than an action thriller, veering into something closer to horror. From this perspective, this is typically the kind of feature that manages to bridge the gap between a more sophisticated, festival-oriented audience and a broader mainstream audience that could appreciate watching it on a streaming platform, or even make it a night out at the cinema, which is certainly a strength, from a distribution standpoint.

In Alaska was co-produced by IJswater Films (Netherlands) with Experimental Forest Films and Uuktumiaq Studios (Canada). WTFilms is selling the film worldwide.