Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)

Songs My Brothers Taught Me: Directed by Chloé Zhao. With John Reddy, Jashaun St. John, Irene Bedard, Jessica Rowland. With an older brother in jail and living with their single mother on Pine Ridge Reservation, Johnny and his sister Jashuan’s lives develop new challenges when their absentee cowboy father suddenly dies. The loss prompts Johnny to strike out for Los Angeles, but would mean leaving behind his beloved sister.

“This is a stunningly true to life and tender movie. I had just watched Sky, in which Native Americans and their connections with a white woman were portrayed through the lens of a European romantic fantasy about NA life in America. Songs was the opposite – unsentimental, unsparing and filled with beautifully understated acting that let the story breathe. The photography was exquisite – I know that country and found myself longing to be there. The ragged weave of the story was precisely how life is lived by so many of us – no big epiphanies, no smarmed up resolutions, no miracles except for how people can hold fast to love. I thank the film-makers for their deep respect for the people and their recognition of the way the land is the base of hope for far too few of us.”