The Rider **** (2017, Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau) – Movie Review

A heart-breakingly warm, empathetic people drama, about a head injured young rodeo cowboy and his horses, about a battle against the odds.

The Rider (2017) is an incredibly warm, empathetic people drama, about a boy and his horses, about a battle against the odds. A slow but intense burn, it is all about situations, character and atmosphere, but it delivers, even on the story front that isn’t its main strength, and there are two or three big tearful emotional moments at the end that cause a surging impact.

Writer-director Chloé Zhao seems a bit in love with Brady Jandreau, playing Brady Blackburn, a young rodeo rider trying to come to terms with life after suffering a near fatal head injury. That is not surprising, as he is easy to love, giving a heartfelt, super sympathetic, totally believable performance. Brady is still recuperating and gets back to his beloved horses and gets ill. The hospital tells him no horse, no rodeo. He tries working in a supermarket, but decides it is rodeo that is his love and his destiny, not wanting to turn out like his low-achieving trailer-living father. Brady is sorely tested, and so are his horses.

Brady Jandreau plays young rodeo rider Brady Blackburn in The Rider.

Tim Jandreau and Lilly Jandreau are quietly moving as Brady’s father and sister, Wayne Blackburn and Lilly Jandreau, and Cat Clifford stands out too as Brady’s rodeo buddy. Lane Scott, a rodeo hero paralysed for life after a fall, plays himself, visited by the caring  Brady while being treated rehab centre in Omaha, Nebraska.

The striking cinematography is in love with Brady, the horses, the rodeo, and what they call the American heartland – it is South Dakota. The film is in so many ways a love affair, love for the hurt, harmed, maimed, wounded, the underdog – or the underhorse, I suppose. It is kind of heart-breaking.

Zhao first met Brady Jandreau while researching her first film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015). She visited the ranch where Jandreau was working and he taught her how to ride a horse. She decided to base the script for her next film on his story when he had the accident that left him with life changing head injuries. Brady is credited both as lead actor and horse trainer.

It is the best film about about a boy and his horses since Lean on Pete.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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