The Rider

            Life and art merge beautifully in this poetic, contemporary western. Writer/director Chloe Zhao creates a narrative that focuses on the real life of rodeo cowboy, Brady Jandreau (Brady Blackburn in the film).

            Mr. Jandreau is a charismatic presence, unflinchingly willing to let Ms. Zhao's camera into his world. The film takes place in South Dakota and the unspoiled western landscape makes for stunning cinematography. 

            Ms. Zhao follows her subject, family and friends (all played by themselves) as he tries to find meaning to his life after a terrible rodeo accident leaves him unable to ride. The film begins shortly after Brady is released from the hospital leaving him wondering what his future will hold. He lives in a trailer home with his father, Wayne and younger sister, Lilly (who has Asperger's Syndrome). Life is hard for this family. No formal schooling, always behind in the rent, not much in the way of employment, they barely scrape by.

           What Brady and his father do know is horses. No longer able to ride, Brady hopes to work breaking wild horses. He has an uncanny connection to the animals. His scenes with the various horses are stunning. His friends, all cowboys themselves, try hard to cheer him up but Brady without the thing he loves most, sinks into a despair that is achingly real. 

           When Brady visits his friend Lane Scott, a paralyzed cowboy, in the hospital, he finds strength in trying to help his friend but it also forces him to confront the passion they have both lost. This is a remarkable film, a loose narrative wrapped in the real life of this young man and his world.  Sad, soulful and heartbreaking, it is an uncompromising look into a world many of us will never know but a human condition we can all relate to.