The Rider
Directed by: Chloé Zhao
Written by: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau, Lane Scott, Cat Clifford, Tanner Langdeau, James Calhoon, Derrick Janis
Drama - 104 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Apr 2018
Written by: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau, Lane Scott, Cat Clifford, Tanner Langdeau, James Calhoon, Derrick Janis
Drama - 104 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 19 Apr 2018
I have nothing in common with a severely injured cowboy whose dreams of life on the rodeo circuit may be cut short after a heinous accident. 99.999% of us cannot relate to Brady Blackburn. However, writer/director Chloé Zhao wisely begins The Rider sans plot. The audience watches Brady struggle to get out of bed, pull staples out of his head, and reacquaint himself with his horses and family realizing he may be lucky to be alive. Zhao is making us get to know and identify with Brady. Only later do the film's themes of crushed hopes, the concept of masculinity, and poverty in a marginalized community start to be explored. The Rider is a meditation on what one defines as a life and how you consider yourself to be alive; it’s about identity.
There is an inherent contradiction in the concept of a Native American cowboy. The cliché of cowboys and Indians comes to mind. Yet, in real life, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, there are generations of boys who grow up thirsting for eight seconds of glory on a bucking bronco. The rural landscape serves to isolate the obvious crushing poverty and what we see on camera is not so much the American Dream, but the American broken dream accompanied by a fierce fighting spirit. They do not have much out there in the Badlands, but they have the scars and broken bones to show how close they are to the amber waves of grain.
There is an inherent contradiction in the concept of a Native American cowboy. The cliché of cowboys and Indians comes to mind. Yet, in real life, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, there are generations of boys who grow up thirsting for eight seconds of glory on a bucking bronco. The rural landscape serves to isolate the obvious crushing poverty and what we see on camera is not so much the American Dream, but the American broken dream accompanied by a fierce fighting spirit. They do not have much out there in the Badlands, but they have the scars and broken bones to show how close they are to the amber waves of grain.
Pine Ridge is a forgotten pocket on the edge of society. Zhao’s preferred wide-angle lenses are the natural choice to show young Brady galloping across fields or staring into the sunset feeling suffocated. Zhao got to know Brady Jandreau while researching Native American cowboys and when she learned he continued to train wild horses and ride even after his horrific accident and how much that could cost his heath, she saw a film in that spirit. Brady risks his life to keep doing what he loves. If he is not riding, he does not feel alive. He watches a video clip of his accident on his phone which is the actual real life footage.
Zhao says The Rider is neither a documentary nor fiction. Brady, playing a version of himself on screen, says it is 60% real, 40% made up. Much of the authenticity comes from the casting. Zhao cast Brady’s real life father and sister to play his family and perhaps all of the other actors are local townsfolk. Some complain about the acting and how stiff it comes across at times, but I believe Brady. The accents also work. This middle of nowhere South Dakotan twang sounds like a cross between Fargo and Wind River; a dialect more Canadian than anything. Only locals could pull it off. Also, casting a family and town to play themselves should capture a more authentic human interaction.
Another facet we’ve heard before is how crucial the location is and how it almost acts as a character. There is minimal dialogue and the inevitable empty space is filled up by literal open grassland. You can usually hear the gusting wind in the boom mike. As we follow Brady around town, we wonder why he would risk his life for horses. On the surface level, maybe he misses the admiration of being noticed around town as a rodeo badass. Dig a little deeper and Brady is connected to this land and the horses are an integral part of that. A Chinese woman created a story about a cowboy from South Dakota and most of us city folk find ourselves relating to him. There is a universal message in The Rider about the struggle inside all of us to hold on to who we think we are - there will always be part documentary and part fiction in how we define that.
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