By Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
Cinema might have a worthy successor to early Terrence Malick in Chloe Zhao, whose second feature "The Rider " is a spiritual and poetic journey into the fading world of the Lakota cowboy, starring the real people who inspired her film.
As in her first, the beautiful "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" which was also set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Zhao transports us to the badlands of South Dakota to tell the story of a rodeo cowboy who must give up his dream after suffering a devastating brain trauma during competition.
Brady Jandreau, a Lakota cowboy and member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, plays a fictionalized version of himself, Brady Blackburn, in the film. Jandreau was actually thrown from a horse which then stomped on his head during a rodeo in 2016. He was in a coma for three days and now has a metal plate in his head and lingering effects from the trauma.
In "The Rider," we meet Brady soon after the incident, as he's taking the staples out of his own skull and adjusting, poorly, to a new life of caution, away from the energy and excitement and danger of the rodeo, which he had staked his identity on. Brady lives in a mobile home with his dad, Wayne (played by his real life father Tim Jandreau), who gambles and drinks too much but has a good heart, and teenage sister Lilly (also his real sister), who has Asperger's Syndrome.
Brady seems somewhat in denial and his friends don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation either.
"By NFL standards I should be dead," Brady explains one night out by the campfire, drinking with his buddies. But they respond to him like his injury is temporary, like he just needs to brush it off and power through the pain, "like a cowboy," one says.
Brady is clearly lost in this new reality. He understands more than most what life looks like after injury, often visiting his friend Lane (Lane Scott), a once daredevil who is in rehab and can no longer walk or speak after his rodeo accident.
Zhao clearly has a deep affection for her subjects who have so graciously let her into their lives, and, with almost documentary rigor, expose some of the difficult truths of life with disability. But there is also an abundance of grace and beauty within the hardships too.
Her use of non-actors is often a plus, but it has its limits too. Brady, while a deeply compelling and empathetic presence who from certain angles looks like a distant cousin to Chris Pratt, can appear a little blank at times when the camera just lingers on him in close-up. He's strongest, and most natural in his normal routine, training horses, or interacting with Lane or Lilly.
Its examination of the cowboy masculinity that leads Brady and his peers to seek a life of thrills and danger only scratches the surface, but you'll be surprised at how intoxicating and enveloping it is, right down to the on-the-nose metaphors. "The Rider" is a story of death and rebirth and cements Zhao as one of the most promising and humane filmmakers to come on the scene in some time. Like Sean Baker, she takes her camera to parts of the country that many of us rarely see and even more rarely take the time to consider. Zhao and "The Rider" are the real deal.
"The Rider," a Sony Pictures Classics release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "language and drug use." Running time: 103 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More