“Sometimes we gotta play the hand we’re dealt. Sometimes your dreams aren’t meant to be.”
The Rider is the second feature from rising director Chloé Zhao and marks the cinematic debut of newcomer Brady Jandreau in a semi-autobiographical role as Brady Blackburn, a young star of the South Dakota rodeo circuit who, after suffering a traumatic brain injury while riding, must face the fact that his competition days are most likely over. As he recovers from his injury, Brady must choose between risking his life to continue the pursuit of his dream and the only living he knows how to make for himself, or searching for a new purpose in life while navigating a tumultuous relationship with his father Wayne (Tim Jandreau) and having to help care for his special needs sister Lily (Lilly Jandreau).
The Rider is not just a film about dreams and dreamers, but also the cost of pursuing those dreams and how our dreams are intertwined with our identity and self worth. We are shown the back and forth that Brady struggles with as he weighs the possibility of dying should he ever jump back in the saddle against the fact that not only are horse riding and training the only marketable skills he’s ever had, but that his aptitude with these skills are what has elevated him as a notable and important person in a community where other options for men are not plentiful. The identity crisis this creates for him is at its most obvious during the scenes in which Brady is working the supermarket job he has accepted in order to generate an income while in recovery. While stocking shelves or checking out customers, he is always approached by an admirer or acquaintance, asking what he’s doing working in a grocery store and when they can expect to see him mounted on a horse again. This struck me as a localized version of what many celebrities have said about fame; nothing is worse than being broke when you’re famous. During these scenes, we can see and feel the shame Brady faces as a local celebrity who has to answer why someone of his stature and skill level is clerking at a grocery store. His worth has been in status as a rodeo cowboy, capable of doing things his peers wish they could, and now he’s forced to serve them as they buy their food for the month. In the end, what allowed Brady to let go of his dream was finding something else he loved just as much as being a rider, that being his family. Brady’s journey serves as a valuable lesson for all who see The Rider; what makes our dreams our dreams and so valuable is the love we have for them. Although not every dream is destined to become reality, waking up from what we’ve wished for doesn’t have to be so devastating if we what we wake up to inspires a similar feeling of joy, fulfillment, and purpose. For Brady, providing for Lilly filled that void.
Later on in the film, Brady buys a powerful but seemingly untameable horse named Apollo from a neighbor and plans to use his training skills to turn the horse into the potentially great animal that it can be. Apollo and his training serves as an allegory for Brady’s rodeo life post-accident, a well executed story device by Zhao. Apollo’s ability to be trained is uncertain and tenuous, as is Brady’s future as a rider. If Apollo can be tamed and made into the horse he has the potential to be, perhaps Brady’s disability can be tamed as well and he can become the rider and horse trainer that everyone expected him to become. This mirror between horse and trainer made Apollo’s fate so tragic for the viewer and Character alike, as what became of him became of Brady the rider.
Most of the actors in The Rider are first time actors and real life locals from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, including our main characters the Blackburns who are the real life Jandreau family. The use of real, non-trained actors helps to provide the film with a feeling of authenticity, as if the audience are voyeurs following the real happenings of a community on the western plains. For some, the novice skills of the actors could serve as a distraction and negative for the film. It was an interesting conundrum for me to consider. Did the more authentic feel provided by the newcomers balance out what would have been offered from a more experienced cast? The realism present in The Rider was worth the lack of a Day-Lewis or Streep level performance. With that said, the actors were not by any means subpar. Lilly in particular was wonderful as the precocious little sister providing encouragement and love to Brady whenever he needed it most.
The film’s cinematography is very well done. The images put on-screen really transport viewers to the vibrant, wild environment of the plains and mountains of the west. We are treated to lush environments full of the vibrant, varying colors present in the western wilderness. Whether it’s the rocky, hilly mountains with their various shades of brown, the sun rises and sunsets to begin and end each day, and the bluish hues created by the moonlight on the plains. The film’s usage of natural light in conjunction with artificial lighting and camera techniques blend together well. The level of environmental immersion that Zhao creates may be the best presented on-screen since 2015’s The Revenant.
The Rider is an interesting character study examining how our work, aspirations, and dreams intersect with how we view and feel about ourselves. Director Chloé Zhao directs both the camera and a cast full of novice actors fantastically and as a result creates a film that methodically but strongly displays the emotional rollercoaster of being confronted with the mortality of one’s hopes and vision of the future. As Zhao’s career continues to ascend, her latest work demands a viewing on the big screen from film enthusiasts far and wide.
Image: Sony Pictures Classics
