The Rider

It was not what I expected. No action whatsoever. I thought we would see some real Bull riding. Acting is terrible. I understand that the true people were in it, but the writing leaves much to be desired!

This film by director, Zhoa is a remarkable attempt in giving an emotional depth to the rural American cultural landscape by displaying social class. Its centers the story on an young working class man trying to get a grip on his "manhood" via a surrogate "family" of diverse characters (not to be picky, but some of the acting was little off/over the top). The film's strength is the juxtaposed imagery belonging both to the "serene" rural landscape and the "hyper-masculine" subculture of rodeo. It explores visually the "rites of passage" for young rodeo riders, held steadily by the newly found acting talents of Brady Jandreau. Although many reviews are labeling this filmwork as "docudrama" I feel that it follows the cinematic traditions of Italian "neo-realism" and South American "hunger aesthetics" founded by noted filmmakers such as Walter Salles.

Greetings again from the darkness. Sometimes the universe creates its own balance. Watching this little independent gem the day before watching the new Avengers movie reinforces what a diverse art form the cinema provides. Writer/director Chloe Zhao continues to make her presence felt as a filmmaker, and movie lovers are the beneficiaries. While filming her feature film debut SONGS MY BROTHER TAUGHT ME on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 2015, Ms. Zhao met Brady Jandreau, a rising young star on the rodeo circuit. She knew a movie was in their future, but it wasn't until the following year when the story wrote itself. Brady suffered a severe head injury after being bucked by a bronco. He was in a coma for 3 days, and a metal plate was screwed into his skull. Doctors warned Brady that riding a horse again could kill him. This is not a documentary, but it's pretty darn close. Brady Jandreau plays Brady Blackburn, a rodeo bronco rider and horse trainer who is recovering from a severe head injury. Mr. Landreau's real father Tim and sister Lilly also appear as themselves. In fact, most of the characters are locals rather than actors, and many (including the Jandreaus) are part of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe on the reservation. Also playing himself is Lane Scott, Brady's best friend who is now paralyzed and unable to speak - the tragic result of another rodeo ride gone wrong. These two are like brothers, and their interactions provide some of the most emotional moments in the movie. The film is more cycle of life, than circle of life. It's about having a lifelong dream snatched from your clutches. We follow Brady as he searches for his new place in life. Campfire confessions with his rodeo buddies portray the bond created by risking life and limb. His mother is dead, and Brady's dad has spent a lifetime telling him to "cowboy up" - meaning, be a man and fight through every situation. Now dad is telling him to "let it go" and "move on". This contradicts his friends who encourage him to not give up on his dream. Brady's moments with his sister Lilly are some of the sweetest and most poignant. Despite her autism, Lilly is precious as she sings songs and offers clear insight to her brother. This is less about acting and more about being. Guns, horses, and pot play significant roles throughout, as does the stunning South Dakota landscape as photographed by cinematographer Joshua James Richards. The intimacy of Brady's internal struggle somehow dwarfs the breathtaking sunsets. His quietly simmering intensity is masked by a stone face that only seems to brighten when around friend Lane, sister Lilly, or training yet another "unbreakable" horse. Rather than traditional story arc, this is simply a compelling way of life for people who put up no false fronts. Brady is trying to figure out how to be a man after life has stolen his dream. One's purpose is essential to one's being, and thanks to filmmaker Zhao we witness how one tough cowboy fights through.

source: The Rider

A silent, serene & subdued portrait of small-town life in the American heartland, The Rider is a gently crafted, elegantly narrated & sincerely acted contemporary western drama that's heartfelt in its storytelling, authentic in its execution, and makes for one fascinating character study of a rodeo who grapples with his identity after suffering a near-fatal injury. Written & directed by Chloé Zhao, the story is more or less a dramatisation of a real-life incident and even employs the same people in lead roles whose lives it attempts to render on screen. Enriching the imagery some more is the exquisite photography & unhurried approach, not to mention the care & understanding Zhao exhibits while sketching these characters on paper & film. Zhao shows ample empathy for her characters, depicts the tender moments with a deft touch, and creates a comfortable enough environment for the untrained actors to give their best shot. The actors here are merely playing a fictionalised version of themselves, and they all end up doing a pretty neat job at it, for their performances are honest, arresting & emotionally resonant from start to finish. Overall, The Rider is a tragic, soulful & poignant story of what it means to lose one's lifelong dream, the inadequacy that fills the life in its absence, and the unfathomable hardship of making peace with oneself by letting it go. There isn't really much wrong with anything Zhao does here yet for some reason, the film never immersed me into its world or made me care as deeply about the characters as Zhao does. I just like it fine.

In the bonus segment of the DVD of "The Rider," there was a fascinating question-and-answer session with the lead actor Brady Jandreau, who reenacts his own life story in the film. Jandreau described the film as the story of "an Indian cowboy in the heartland of America." But what Jandreau does not mention in the Q&A is how the writer-director Chloé Zhao twisted his biography from a skilled horseman and trainer into a tragic saga of a victim of rodeo violence. The real-life Jandreau seemed optimistic about his life, health, and career in South Dakota. By contrast, the filmmaker turned this remarkable life into a pity party. The film focuses far too much on the head injury of the protagonist and his wrenching decision whether or not to risk his life by returning to rodeo. As if the personal dilemma of the life-and-death situation were not enough, Zhao relentlessly reminds the audience of the hardscrabble, impoverished life, the health of other characters, the death of the mother, the dead-end life in a trailer, and the troubled relationship of father and son. Zhao has some filmmaking skills, as apparent in the beautiful landscape scenes and the training of the horses, which was not simulated in the film. The look of the film had the feel of Terence Malick's filmed poem "Days of Heaven." But it is curious why Zhao would adopt such a limited, one-dimensional view of the life of Brady Jandreau. In the DVD segment, Jandreau described the film as 60% true and 40% fiction. But the fictional part shifted the film to a quasi documentary that would be suitable for a segment of the PBS series "The American Experience." The 100% true-to-life story of Brady Jandreau the Horse Whisperer sounds much more interesting.

An inspired tale of a broken down rodeo rider recovering from a brutal fall trying to get back into the game when all physical signs tell him it's over. It could play as a double bill to The Wrestler in which Mickey Rourke's character's time has come but his instincts & stubbornness tell him otherwise. Using real people to portray themselves (the lead, his sister & father are related in real life) lends a beautiful air of documentary to the events depicted on the film that doesn't glamorize the sport (much like a bigger budgeted Hollywood film would give us) & entwines us in the brutal poetry that comes about when one's chosen dream fizzles away slowly before one's eyes. One of the best of the year, see it!

"The Rider" takes us on a young man's journey--and I mean a young man. A serious contender on the rodeo circuit, this boy has a bad fall and suffers brain damage. This damage is never discounted. He does what he can to maintain the macho bit, but he knows that his future is going to be away from horses. He lives with his father and sister. They are in relative poverty and their prospects are not good. Someone said, in another review, that this is a lot like a documentary, in that there are few spectacular moments Brady has no outlet for his wishes, even though he tries. I appreciated that the film did not try to insult our intelligence by making it a kind of Rocky movie. Beautifully crafted in the flat Dakota grasslands, it works on nearly every level.

"The Rider" (2017 release; 104 min.) brings the story of Brady, a rodeo cowboy somewhere in South Dakota's Badlands. As the movie opens, Brady is popping pills as he is recovering from a serious rodeo accident that led to a broken skulls (now reinforced with a metal plate and staples). We also get to know his family, as he lives with his dad and his sister 15 yr. old sister Lilly who has Asperger's syndrome. His mom passed away a few years back (we don't know from what). Hanging out with his friends, they wonder when he'll return to the rodeo competition. Then one day Brady's fingers claw up, and something seems very wrong. At this point we're less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out. Couple of comments: this is the second movie from writer-producer-director Chloe Zhao, who previously gave us the excellent "Songs My Brothers Told Me". Here the Chinese film maker (who has lived in the US the past 2 decades) tackles a very American topic: the Big Sky cowboy mentality, with its horses, rodeo, macho and of course gun culture. Brady Jandreau, the real life bronco rider who almost died in real life, plays a thinly veiled version of himself as Brady Blackburn, who in the movie is trying to find a way in life after suffering the almost fatal accident. When Brady is hanging out with his buds, one of them comments "I've had at least 10 concussions,; by NFL standards I should be dead by now", and the group chuckles. Remarkably, Brady's family are also portrayed by his real life dad and sister, and in fact there isn't a single professional performer in the movie. Which makes Brady Jandreau's performance in the lead role all the more remarkable. He is in virtually every frame of the movie, and truly carries the movie on his shoulders. The movie's photography is pure eye-candy from start to finish. With this film, Zhao confirms, and then some, what an enormous talent that she is, and I can't wait to see what she will bring next. "The Rider" premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and received a US theatrical only last month (I have no idea why it has taken so long, but better late than never). The movie finally opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend, and i couldn't wait to see it. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was PACKED, much to my surprised. Who knew there was a pent-up demand for this movie? In the age of never-ending Avengers, Deadpool and Solo/Star Wars installations and rehashes, "The Rider" feels like a breath of fresh air. I see a lot of movies, and this one for me is the best film of the year so far, period. I'd readily encourage you to check it out in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion. For me, "The Rider" is a WINNER all the way.

It is at this time in America that we have a fresh update not just of it's gorgeous landscape, but a more modern tale of the open spaces and characters that inhabit it. Throw in a gorgeous cinematography and you have one of the most memorable films I have seen in years. The Rider focuses on a family, and particularly one son who after an unfortunate competition accident, is stuck not just in a sea of empty direction, but a loss of his true identity. He is guided by other riding friends, a somewhat dis-interested father, and his disabled younger sister. This film could be filed with obvious tropes, the big Karate Kid like comeback, family redemption, but instead it has the unique ability to keep things intensely real. The characters don't even seem like they are acting, there is a real sense of the Western camaraderie and landscape out on the plains, a Holden Caulfieldesque genuine relationship with a sister so real as if Salinger wrote it himself, and a look into a culture that has been updated for the 21st century. The cinematography along with the main characters angst, ooze off the screen in burnt and dark rolling hills of pathos and glory. The images and storyline offer such an intense look in a life that many can only barely grasp. The movie's effect is so striking, that in a particular scene when a simple horse is ridden, it is one of the beautiful, haunting, majestic and gut wrenching images you will ever witness on screen. Director Chloe Zhao has crafted one of the most amazing looking and storytelling pieces of Americana in ages, while lead actor Brady Jandreau pulls off a character and role with such passion and ease, it's as if he was a modern James Dean and John Wayne all rolled up into one. A not to be missed film.