This astonishing first film by director Chloe Zhao may not have much of a story but the way she allows us see how the Reservations are still housing native Americans in the present time is truly educational to an English man like me. Zhao is Chinese which to me makes this small masterpiece even more amazing.
Songs My Brother Taught me is slow to start and I only watched it as I've read about Zhao's reputation, having won an Oscar for directing Nomadland. Slow beginning, but as it progresses and I get to know the family and I started to care about them. It follows a flimsy story about an eleven year old Lakota girl, played so sweetly by Jashaun St John and her older brother played by John Reddy. Neither actors were professional apparently but they held my interest to the point that I just wanted to know what happens next.
The direction is crisp, creating interesting angle shots, at times shocking in it's raw brutality and constantly engaging once you start to get involved with the characters. I have two more movies by Chloe Zhao lined up to watch and can't wait to see them.
The heart of this moving film is the family and how they survive on the reservation, trying to live normal lives as we all do but sometimes getting trapped into the world of drugs and alcohol that is common in poor communities. Johnny, for example, buys and sells alcohol and is attacked by rival neighbours for stepping on their racket. He wants to go to LA with his girlfriend but is it just a dream that so many young people have who feel they need to escape from their stifling existence. This thread runs through the movie as does the sadness of his younger sister who adores him and becomes depressed at the thought of him leaving her. This I found very moving. Great cinematography with sweeping vistas, I can't praise it too much, maybe the best film I've watched this year.
Songs My Brother Taught me is slow to start and I only watched it as I've read about Zhao's reputation, having won an Oscar for directing Nomadland. Slow beginning, but as it progresses and I get to know the family and I started to care about them. It follows a flimsy story about an eleven year old Lakota girl, played so sweetly by Jashaun St John and her older brother played by John Reddy. Neither actors were professional apparently but they held my interest to the point that I just wanted to know what happens next.
The direction is crisp, creating interesting angle shots, at times shocking in it's raw brutality and constantly engaging once you start to get involved with the characters. I have two more movies by Chloe Zhao lined up to watch and can't wait to see them.
The heart of this moving film is the family and how they survive on the reservation, trying to live normal lives as we all do but sometimes getting trapped into the world of drugs and alcohol that is common in poor communities. Johnny, for example, buys and sells alcohol and is attacked by rival neighbours for stepping on their racket. He wants to go to LA with his girlfriend but is it just a dream that so many young people have who feel they need to escape from their stifling existence. This thread runs through the movie as does the sadness of his younger sister who adores him and becomes depressed at the thought of him leaving her. This I found very moving. Great cinematography with sweeping vistas, I can't praise it too much, maybe the best film I've watched this year.