User reviews

The joy of doing what you love burns away any pain. For Brady, a rodeo rider who just emerged from a coma, the joy and pain come in equal measure. Brady is told not to ride again. "Play the cards you are dealt," says his father "let it go." Yet Brady's purpose in life is hitched to riding horses. Also, living in a trailer and eating rabbit soup is not the stuff of champions. In the starlight, around a campfire with friends, listening to his little sister sing simple yet beautiful songs, and in dreams, Brady ponders his next moves.

This authentic and heart-rending film integrates the real lives of the actors into the story. It is balanced in its portrayal and rightly does not cast judgment. The cinematography is up close and intimate so that emotions are revealed in faces and eyes (horse and human) as much as words. While the director, actors and horses are just starting out in their film making careers and it shows, there is power and magic in how genuine they are in their portrayals. In a sense, they have been preparing for this film their entire lives. Human nature and the real West are on display here, and there is as much beauty in that as there is in the prairie sunrise. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival.

While watching the end credits of this film, I noticed that Brady Jandreau is mentioned twice: as the lead actor, and as the horse trainer. It's a way of telling the audience that Jandreau is, in fact, playing himself, or at least a version of his personality.

Brady Jandreau - only his last name is changed for his movie role - is a rodeo rider who is recovering from a near-fatal head injury. Doctors tell him he should never ride again, but after having spent some weeks working in a supermarket, he comes to the conclusion that there's only one thing that makes him happy: riding rodeo's.

It's a simple story, but it is told with lots of empathy for the heart wrenching choices Brady has to make. We can see him wrestling with his fate and in the end, he knows that he is meant to ride horses, 'just as a horse is meant to run across the prairie'.

There are several side stories deepening the insight in Brady's predicament. His teenage sister is mentally challenged, the family is poor and lives in a trailer, and he has to say goodbye to two of his favorite horses.

The film can be interpreted as a heroic tale of perserverence and dedication. Brady lives for the rodeo, and the viewer understands why he gets a kick out of the horses, the clothing, the masculinity and the competition. The director indicates this in subtle scenes. For example when he decides to pawn his custom made saddle, because he needs the money. At the last moment, he changes his mind.

But you can also interpret this film a a sad story of a man who has only limited possibilities in life because of the environment he grows up in. Brady really has nothing else in his life, and is not capable of even imagining changing it. One of the saddest scenes in the film is when Brady visits another rodeo hero, who is paralyzed for life after a fall, and lives in a care facility. Helped by three assistants, Brady lifts his friend on a wooden horse, puts a cowboy hat on his head and makes him move as if he is riding a horse. Even this terrible example doesn't deter Brady from continuing rodeo riding.

The cinematograpy is beautiful, with plenty of shots showing the treeless prairies of the empty American heartland in all its beauty. It also gives a nice insight into the rodeo world, a cultural phenomenon as essential to the American West as bull fighting is to Spain. But it's essentially a film about a man fighting the odds to do what he wants to do.

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.

Saw this at Sundance. Great film. None of the people in the film are actors. It aids in the realism but also is a testament to the director's ability. This is a subtle, emotionally impactful experience. By the end of it your heart breaks but is also hopeful. Good story of friendship and also coming to grips with not being able to do what you truly love to do. How does one make life meaningful?

I love big budget blockbusters like Black Panther and Infinity Wars but there is a special place in my heart for the little guy with the little film with a little budget that can still bring the story home. I do not usually like sad stories. I firmly believe that movies should first entertain and then teach a lesson just like the best children's story. This is sometimes painful to watch but you have to root for Brady Blackburn. The shots of the Badlands are spectacular, the emotion heartfelt and the filmmaker's vision realized.

What a magnificent film. It's a simple story, one that has been told before, but the execution has almost never been better. It has a lot in common with The Wrestler, but it's way less flawed than that. Visually the film is incredibly beautiful, with some amazing shots and really accomplished editing. As strong as the screenplay is, it's the acting and directing that make this as powerful as it is. I had an actual visceral reaction to it in a way I rarely do to any type of film. The portrayal of the disintegration of body and the sacrifices people take to accomplish these dreams was captured in such a raw, painfully realistic way. Consideing the background of the people who act in the film, it's not a surprise. In particular, Brady Jandreau is a true revelation. There's a profound sadness that he is able to capture in the close-ups of his face. The camera is able to capture so much of his nuances and every little reaction to the comments said by others hits deep. In line with the entire film, it's hard to see this as an "acting" performance because everything feels so genuine.

There have been many great films this year but this now stands as easily the best so far.

Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau), is firmly of the opinion that his career as a rodeo rider is merely on hold whilst he recuperates from the fall and severe head injury that he recently sustained in action.

And though inundated with the encouragement and well wishes of others, it quickly becomes clear to all that any sort of come back from this would be both short-lived and eminently foolhardy.

With this realisation in mind, Brady must now somehow try to find renewed meaning in an existence that has for his entire life been intrinsically linked to the life of a cowboy. But living in a remote rural location bereft of any real employment opportunities and with little by way of alternative education and skill sets to call upon, the odds are somewhat stacked against him.

Even his efforts to use the highly impressive skills he possesses as a horse trainer - passed down to him by his father - seem doomed to failure as the neurological impact of his injury begins to manifest itself physically, hampering his ability to properly carry out even this somewhat less physically demanding work. Indeed, Brady is informed that if he ever attempts to ride again, it could very well kill him.

It's only then through the relationship that he has with his developmentally-disabled sister Lilly, and severely disabled friend, Lane Scott - himself an ex-rodeo rider - that Brady can then take stock of his life and begin to see beyond everything that he has ever been and ever thought he would be.

It's a thoughtful and atmospheric film that's ever so beautifully shot, making full use of the raw, wind-swept beauty of the South Dakota badlands. And through Zhao's gritty, visceral and highly textural approach to the direction, one can almost feel the creaking well-worn leather of Brady's saddle, and the cold steel of the stirrups that hang securely from it.

Given their real-life talents and abilities with horses, through taking the risk of casting Brady Jandreau and his co-actors in the film's leading roles, Chloe Zhao's film positively brims with vigour, energy and above all authenticity.

But The Rider then presents its audience with something of a conundrum:

What is more important in a performance? Authenticity or technical acting ability?

For all of the honest, earthy qualities that the cast undoubtedly bring to the table, it is ultimately the limitations of their ability as actors - failing at times to fully convey the necessary emotions and conviction required - that frequently hamper the film's best intentions.

And what a very great shame that is.

It's really not out of all proportion to suggest that given the right choice of cast, The Rider would have had all of the necessary ingredients to be considered something bordering on a masterpiece.

As it is, Zhao's film fails to convince as a whole, and falls frustratingly short of what it might have been.

Harsh? Perhaps. But one cannot tip-toe around the truth here.

The Rider is as authentic, thoughtful, heartfelt and soulful as the day is long, but ultimately it's what would appear to be the film's greatest assets that ultimately prove to be its unfortunate undoing.

The movie The Rider isn't really about rodeo. It's a character study and an exploration of what it means to lose your dreams, and how to be a man in a culture that glorifies danger. Writer-Director Chloé Zhao may have been born in Beijing, but she has made one of the most authentic films about the West in recent years and one of the best films of the year so far. Don't miss it! She's drawn on the real-life story of a young man's recovery from a rodeo injury that nearly killed him and probably will if he falls again. Brady Blackburn (played by Brady Jandreau) had a solid career on the rodeo circuit in front of him. As the film opens, his skull looks like Frankenstein's monster, a metal plate rides underneath, and he has an occasional immobililty in his right hand-his rope hand. The doctor tells him no more riding, no more rodeo. She might as well tell him not to breathe. He's "recuperating," but determined to get back in the saddle. He lives in a trailer with his father (Tim Jandreau), who puts on a gruff front, and feisty 15-year-old sister, Lilly (Lilly Jandreau), who has some degree of Asperger's. The disappointment his fans feel when they find him working at a supermarket is visible to the taciturn Brady and to us. In his spare time-and this is where the movie comes spectacularly to life-he trains horses. Watching him work with them, you know for sure that he's no actor. This is his real-life job, and Zhao has captured those delicate moments of growing trust. Not that interested in rodeo? You don't see much of it. And most of the rodeo scenes are in the video clips Brady and his best friend Lane watch. Watching them watching is the bittersweet point. Lane was a star bull-rider now unable to walk or speak. The way Brady interacts with him is full of true generosity and mutual affection. When Brady throws his saddle into the truck to go to another rodeo, in vain his father tells him not to. The father accuses him of never listening to him, and Brady says, "I do listen to you. I've always listened to you. It's you who said, 'Cowboy up,' 'Grit your teeth,' 'Be a man,'" the kinds of messages men give their sons that sometimes boomerang back to break their hearts. Cinematographer James Joshua Richards's deft close-in camerawork captures the personalities of the horses, and his wide views put the windswept grasslands of South Dakota's Badlands and Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The film is shot partly on the Lakota reservation, but not much is made of the cast's Native American heritage. By grounding the script in Brady's real-life recovery and by surrounding him with his real-life family and friends, Zhao creates a wholly natural feel for the film, which has been nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards. And what was it like for Brady to work with the filmmaker? "She was able to step into our world: riding horses, moving cows, stuff like that. Why should we be scared to step foot into her world?" he said in a Vanity Fair story by Nicole Sperling. "She would do things like get on a 1,700-pound animal for us. And trust us. So we did the same. We got on her 1,700-pound animal."

This movie feels like it was filmed in a near-perfect simulation of the modern day Wild West. I say "near-perfect simulation" because it works when it lets the actors act like cowboys but when dialogue is brought the film falls apart. The acting when the characters are just acting like cowboys and not talking to each other about their problems is phenomenal. The problem is that this isn't a cowboy documentary, it's a drama. Most of the cast, to my knowledge, are actual cowboys so naturally they act well as themselves. Unfortunately, the script comes off as unnatural often. The story itself isn't bad, it's just the little lines of dialogue here and there that are disingenuous and they are so frequent that it has a negative impact on the movie as a whole. The cast did a fantastic job almost everywhere else in the film.

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.

This is a slow burn, but a good one. I highly recommend anyone watching this to look into how this film was made. A lot of it is based on the main actor's real life (even the injury is real). Breaks my heart to see people lose the ability to do the one thing that makes them happy, and to be pressured by everyone to get back into it must make it even harder.

Partly an elegy for a dissipating way of life, partly an examination of the self-destructive components of contemporary masculinity, and partly a deconstruction of the iconography of the American frontier, The Rider is the second film from Chinese-American writer/director Chloé Zhao, and is intimately tied to her debut, Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015). Set in the same location in South Dakota, featuring the same milieu, and covering some of the same thematic ground, The Rider also owes a more practical debt to Songs. When she was researching that film, Zhao met rodeo rider Brady Jandreau, who taught her how to ride a horse. Promising him she would cast him in one of her subsequent films, Zhao soon learned that Jandreau had sustained a serious cranial injury in a rodeo accident, and been told by doctors that he must give up the only way of life he had ever known, as another blow to the head could kill him. Inspired by his story, Zhao wrote The Rider, a loosely fictionalised version of Jandreau's experiences, in which she cast entirely non-professional actors, including the real Jandreau, his father, sister, and several of his friends, all playing versions of themselves. The result is a kind of semi-fictional docudrama, and one of the finest films of the year.

Set on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau) lives just above the poverty line with his father Wayne (Tim Jandreau) and his sister Lilly (Lilly Jandreau), who suffers from autism. Several months previously, Brady suffered a near-fatal head injury after falling from a bronco, which has left him with neurological damage. Warned by doctors that if he attempts to ride again, a single innocuous fall could kill him, Brady finds his very sense of self challenged as he attempts to function in a society where every man lives by the maxim of "ride or die".

In depicting Brady's struggle with his new life, Zhao is able to simultaneously romanticise and demythologise the role of the cowboy in the contemporary United States. As the story progresses, the film comes more and more to express a sense of disillusionment with the lifestyle. Part of this is the theme of the rodeo itself. So eloquently panegyrised in the early parts of the film, it is also presented as leading to physical ruin and mental anguish. Indeed, one of the film's primary motifs is that of injuries sustained whilst riding. In relation to this, it's extremely telling that literally every male Brady meets, from young boys to elderly men, all express their desire that he start riding again, although many of them know why he stopped. On the other hand, one of the few female characters tells him, "problem with you boys, you don't like to get your pride hurt". Brady and his friends are personifications of the ruggedness of the American West, and the film uses them to facilitate a deconstruction of the notions of contemporary masculinity.

They see themselves as modern day-cowboys, but the film argues this is an era where cowboys serve no function. But this is the only life they have known, and whilst the film leaves the audience in little doubt that this lifestyle can lead to ruin, so too does it ensure the viewer knows that Zhao has the deepest respect for these guys, depicting, as it does, the kind of desperation and limited choices that leave a young man with only one route, a route which often overrides any common sense he may have. Never once does it feel like Zhao is looking down on or satirising them. Rather, it's criticising the situation in which they find themselves; forced to live a life of bluster and posturing.

The most telling example of this is Lane (Lane Scott). As with the real-life Brady, Lane was a celebrated rodeo with a reputation for riding broncos no one else would touch. The embodiment of machismo with a devil-may-care attitude, he was adored by women and envied by men. However, as in the film, the real Lane is now almost completely paralysed, capable of communicating only by signing with his left hand, and living permanently in a care facility. The only difference between the real-life Lane and his fictional counterpart is that in reality, he was paralysed in a car crash, whereas in the film it was via riding. This differentiation is telling as it speaks to Zhao's thematic intent. However, as with the other riders, Lane is presented with a great deal of reverence, and never does it feel like the film is saying, "look at what the rodeo did to this guy; he must be a total idiot."

In a sense, whilst the film partially recalls The Misfits (1961), its real thematic precursor is The Wrestler (2008), an examination of male pride working against common sense, of professional dedication, of machoism gone awry. As with The Wrestler, the story of The Rider is archetypal. The Wrestler was about wrestling, but it could have been about any sport, and The Rider is even more universal. Yes, it too could have been about any sport, but it could also have been about literally any environ in which a young male tries to balance the dangers of what he does with the possibility of some kind of reward (whether financial or spiritual) at the end of it all.

Looking at things aesthetically, the film opens with a shot of a horse during a storm, followed by loud thunder. The immediate impression is one of almost elemental forces - two extremes of nature coming together. This is immediately contrasted with Brady waking up and heading into his dingy bathroom to pluck off the staples holding the bandage on his still raw head wound. Thus, in just two shots, Zhao sets up the entire theme of the film - poetic rhetoric and romantic myths are all very well and good, but day to day mundanity can so often get in the way.

Elsewhere, the centrepiece of the film, and probably the most beautiful sequence, is when Brady decides the only opportunity of which he can avail to allow him to stay around horses without risking his life is to break in young broncos. The single-take shot where he breaks in an "untrainable" horse is searingly beautiful in its simplicity and elegance. The lack of edits gives it an unmanipulated emotional sense, whilst also meaning there can be no cheating - we're really watching Brady Jandreau break in a stubborn horse. The gentle approach he employs, the constant reassurances to the animal, the way he holds the rope, how he gets the horse used to someone on its back without actually getting all the up, his grace and intuition, his confidence; the totality is, simply put, achingly perfect. What we are seeing obviously comes from a deep natural inclination in the real-life Brady. You can't teach this kind of brilliance, no matter what the discipline is. Indeed, his gentle approach itself is completely at variance with such scenes in other westerns, where we're usually shown someone breaking in a horse by forcing it to respect them, and that in itself speaks as much to Zhao's theme as anything else. It's this sense of docudrama/realism/naturalism, whatever you want to call it, that really makes The Rider stand out.

If I had one criticism, it would be that the film runs out of momentum a little in the third quarter, although it picks up again in the last 20 minutes or so. However, aside from that, I literally cannot find a bad thing to say.

Bleak but incredibly beautiful, honest, but deeply respectful, realistic but profoundly poetic, Zhao's depiction of a dying culture, a dying breed, a dying way of life - the adrenaline-junkie bronco riders, America's modern cowboys - is easily one of the finest films of the year. And how ironic is it that one of the best examinations of American masculinity that you're likely to see in a long time is written and directed by a woman? And a woman born in China to boot. That's sure to irritate the misogynists/xenophobes no end!

"The Rider" (R, 1:44) is a western drama written and directed by Chloé Zhao, who discovered the story (and the characters who lived it) while researching her first feature, 2015's "Songs My Brothers Taught Me". Her 2017 effort (which transitioned from the festival circuit to limited releases in several countries in early 2018) is the story of a cowboy who suffered a career-ending rodeo injury and is deciding what to do with the rest of his life. The film stars the title character as himself - and his family as themselves.

Brady Jandreau (looking like a young and lean Heath Ledger) plays the titular cowboy. Training and riding horses is what he loves and all he knows. After a devastating fall from a horse, he has a gash on the side of his head, his skin and his skull held together with staples. He struggles through his recovery - and to get used to the idea that he may never ride again. He's not sure whether he can give it up, in spite of the risk to his health and his life. He takes a job in a grocery store, but keeps gravitating back to horses. As he works through his issues, there's no shortage of advice - from those who want him to ride again - and those who know he can't, while caught in the middle is his family - his dad and his mentally challenged sister - and the person he admires most, a fellow rider who is permanently paralyzed.

"The Rider" is both touching and boring. Although this very personal and realistic story sheds light on the lives of modern cowboys, the whole thing is very slow and uneventful... for most of the film's runtime. However, along the way, something surprising happens. The tedium is gradually replaced by something emotional and relatable. It is then that Movie Fans realize that the time spent getting to know these characters and understanding this way of life has made them invested in the story, which pays dividends before it's over. Of course, the main actors playing themselves (not to mention the people playing the smaller roles) yield some acting that is less than stellar, but everyone and everything in this film feels raw and real, and for those Movie Fans who can make it through the slow parts in this slice-of-life western, they may well feel like they have won the gold buckle themselves. "B-"

I was infatuated back in 1971/72 with Hollywood' brief but productive dalliance with the Rodeo film genre, of which Steve Ihnat's "The Honkers" was my favorite alongside the far-better publicized "Junior Bonner", "When the Legends Die" (the closest one to "The Rider") and "J.W. Coop". Chinese director Chloe Zhao takes a neo-Realist stab at the format with this affecting, strong and experimental film.

Unlike Clint Eastwood's unsuccessful recent film where he had the American heroes of the French railway terrorist incident play themselves on screen, Chloe has recruited real-life Native Americans from the South Dakota rodeo milieu to play fictional characters close enough to their real-life personae to establish an immediate and realistic connection. Rodeo has long been a metaphor for Western movie themes, especially those end of an era notions favored by Western masters Sam Peckinpah and John Ford, and here Zhao takes the concept one step further by having these modern day cowboys personified by Native Americans of the Lakota tribe whose culture was effectively destroyed by us "Americans", including the cowboys of old.

The central protagonist Brady has a face and utterly stoic demeanor the camera loves - a Bronson figure who happens to have the handsome features of a Channing Tatum, but never hitting a false note. His dilemma recalls the Greek myth of Sysiphus, rolling that boulder up the hill only to have it roll back down endlessly, accomplishing nothing. But the difference here is that although he cannot recover from the rodeo accident which renders him unfit to ride anymore (actually, in real-life Brady was injured in a car accident, not from rodeo performance) he is presented as a brilliant horse whisperer, adding great depth and panache to the movie.

His best friend Lance, crippled from rodeo, offers the moving sentimentality that Chloe otherwise scrupulously avoids in her filmmaking, using spectacular visual imagery to give the movie a strength that mere documentary technique wouldn't allow. Subsidiary characters like Brady's autistic sister and stern, incapable of expressing his love dad, are potent real-life people rather than Hollywood constructs, though many a character actor would leap at the chance to play these roles.

As I watched the movie I thought of many Sports-related pictures that had covered similar ground, perhaps more intellectually and that achieved classic status. Certainly Brando in Kazan's "On the Waterfront" as the boxer who "coulda been a contender" presents a mirror image to Brady's hero, though their acting styles are diametrically opposed. Kurosawa's "Dersu Uzala" is the most brilliant of these movies (but not about sports) of a strong spirit overcoming physical hardship, and I was somewhat surprised that director Zhao chose to make the character's Native American background so subtle in terms of her screenplay, as opposed to Kurosawa in a Russian movie emphasizing the outsider nature of Dersu the Siberian hunter from an ethnic minority. Perhaps it is the lack of a stronger, more universal theme as developed in the Kazan and Kurosawa films that prevents "The Rider" from ascending to all-time classic status. But it is still a wonderful movie.

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.

I'm giving this film a 7 because it is so well done and unusual in its use of nonprofessional actors essentially playing themselves. In terms of entertainment or deep meaning, I would probably give this film a 6 or less.

I have ridden horses on an amateur level and briefly taught riding (English style). I did not identify with this at all as a riding movie. Rodeo trick riding and bronco busting are not only dangerous, which is the message of this film, but also abusive to animals, an aspect this film avoids. I don't think this is a movie for horse lovers.

I think we were supposed to come away from this film with an appreciation of the American West or something. In reality rodeos are entertainment and real cowboys did/do real work of herding cattle etc. I felt sorry for several of the characters, but I also saw them as macho types who make poor decisions. In some cases their decisions show a lack of regard for those close to them.

The movie is slow-moving and I wasn't sure what to make of the ending.

"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.

In a Lakota Sioux reservation in South Dakota, Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau) is recently recovering from brain damage due to a rodeo incident and finds it difficult to adjust to a safer lifestyle as he's not allowed to ride horses any more. Periodically, Brady visits a friend Lane (Lane Scott) in a care facility. Lane was also injured in a rodeo incident but much more severely than Brady.

In the genre of "macho" films, "The Rider" is unique in a couple of ways. Firstly, the movie begins after the injuries rather than leading up to them as climactic moments. Secondly, rather than glorifying the sport of rodeo, it focuses on its aftermath after things go terribly wrong. Director/writer Chloé Zhao is courageous in taking this unconventional approach.

"The Rider" has a very serene quality to it aided by scenes that include beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Its subtle approach to the heartbreak of shattered dreams is slow-moving yet still effective. This film might have been dull but Zhao has a special touch to keep the viewer interested. She is well aided by Jandreau in the lead role, especially as Brady sees the reflection of his strong personality in a horse who is difficult to train. He also personifies the inner strength of the working poor.

The film would have been richer if it addressed the issue of cruelty to animals used in rodeo. Despite this shortcoming, it is still a sweet, unconventional film. - dbamateurcritic

There are People in this World who never have felt real pain in this life, who never have suffered, who never wanted to face death but did, they will not understand this movie.

The others will.

Many movie makers try to make a movie like this and mostly they are just a look from the outside, this one is from the inside.

3 things we learn from the movie

1) Do not give up on you dreams; live before you die.

2) Do not treat animals as your slaves. If you have the right to live, so do they.

3) Do not give up on your family. Prioritise things accordingly. Do the right thing at the right time; you always get a feeler of that.