Spoor (2017)

A schoolteacher (Agnieszka Mandat) lives alone in a rural valley in Poland. Janina loves her dogs, and nature in general, an opinion not shared by most of her neighbors, whose lives revolve around hunting, or trapping. Often outside the bounds of the law, not that the law much cares when the teacher tries to report them.

The teacher's dogs are gone one day when she returns home, not to be seen again. The townsfolk are unhelpful. The local priest chides her for the sin of pride by making graves for her past pets, and says he'll pray for her. Several prominent men around town, all part the big hunting parties, begin turning up dead. One is found with animal bones in his mouth. The police chief is lying in the snow with a head wound, but only deer tracks around him in the snow. The mayor, simply disappears.

The movie parcels the deaths out slowly, the story spooling over months from winter to summer, the passage marked by calendars which detail what animals are in season for hunting in that month. But this allows time for us to see how Janina interacts with others, the bonds she forms with people. A young woman that runs a clothing shop who Janina calls "Good Time", in some way related to astrology. An IT guy for the police who lives a minimalist lifestyle, allowing himself only 80 items in his life. An older man with a lot of trauma in his life, and a strained relationship with his son (a big city detective). A Czech entomologist she meets while out hiking in the woods.

Janina often chatters cheerfully with them, often running off on a tangent at the slightest provocation. In more stressful situations, this turns into impassioned tirades against the hunters and their culture of killing, or about how astrology explains what happened to the deceased. But she's also capable of listening quietly as someone else discusses their own burdens. Mandat gives Janina a passionate air, but also an empathetic one.

The interpersonal relationships occupy the foreground of the movie. Every so often, a body pops up. Janina answers some questions from the cops. They roll their eyes as she discusses astrology or that nature is striking back against these men. Then we're back to Janina trying to help Good Time gain custody of her brother, or the old gent inviting Janina to a party of the local mushroom hunters.

The mystery is resolved at the end. It makes enough sense, I guess. Makes you look at everything in the movie up to that point from a different angle.