Songs My Brothers Taught Me

It's easy to make a film like this go wrong, with all of the potential possibilities to be lazy and write these characters and stereotypes. Of course, the film doesn't do that and it's because Chloe Zhao has a real knack for creating profound humanity through the images that represent this type of life, humanity that she infuses her characters with. This is a very special film and this is a director to watch out for.

The director, Chloe Zaho said she's hoping "for the audiences to leave the theater feeling that they have gotten to know a group of very complex characters and to have a glimpse into just how diverse and vivacious the Lakota people of Pine Ridge really are, instead of the two dimensional stereotypes we often see represented in today's dominant culture". Well, it's a success.

This movie spoke to me of love and care. Of family - in the most broader sense that this big concept can be stretched to - and belonging. Of home and community. There's something real sweet about it... A real tenderness in the way it is filmed, in the way these characters' stories are told. Some sort of hope in the face of the disappointments and obstacles they may and do encounter. A hope that lies in the love and care of the siblings, Jashaun & Johnny for one another and, more broadly, in the bound the people of Pine Ridge have to each other - and for some to the land itself.

Unfortunately I watched this movie coming off watching some other incredible movies previously. The smilarly styled mexican film "Roma" (focusing on observing not narrative) and another Chinese film called "Better Days" (an epic character exploration) Those two film had the ability to truely capture me and bring me into the world of the characters and feel a level of emotional connection which is rare with most movies. This movie is also about bringing you into the world of the characters as they go through personal growth but while the cinematography was indeed nice, the locations were pretty and the acting was rather good. The lack of a very engaging story and arc risks making this film, while well made and well acted. A little flat and boring. By no means is this a bad movie. The concept is interesting. Yet I feel it could have been told in a richer more emotionally captivating way be it visually or narrative. Should you watch it? Sure if its for free on Netflix or another streaming service. However I personally wouldn't pay for it outright as a film. As there are better films out there.

Of course by now everyone reading this should know that Chloe Zhao is only the second woman to win the Oscar as Best Director and that her film "Nomadland" also won Best Picture. What many people may not know is that "Nomadland" was only Zhao's third feature film, the others being the very moving and blissfully beautiful ""The Rider" and this, "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" and that together they make an extraordinary trilogy of films about the American hinterland. "Nomadland" had a major star at its centre but for the most part was populated by real people playing variations of themselves and while this is fiction and scripted, "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" could be a documentary with Zhao again using non-professional actors in major roles. Visually the obvious influence is Malick but Zhao's films are uniquely her own and if you watch these films back to back they are unmistakeably Zhao's. This did reasonably well on the festival circuit but was obviously never aimed at the mass market. If you haven't seen it, seek it out. Like "The Rider" and "Nomadland" it's a gem.

First time director Chloe Zhao takes her cues from Terrence Malick in this beautiful portrait of two siblings on the Pine Ridge Res.

DeShaun is the youngest of two full biological siblings, taken care of by her older brother Johnny, who is about to graduate high school. A 3rd full sibling, Cody, is imprisoned, while the siblings' mother doesn't quite seem up to the task of taking care of any of her children. As graduation approaches Johnny faces a difficult decision; stay on the res where opportunity is limited but where he can take care of his sister and mother, or leave for L.A. where he knows no one and has nothing, in order to follow his girlfriend who has a full ride scholarship and who will be living in the dorms at school.

There's not a huge amount of plot outside this main conflict and the characters mostly amble in and out of situations and conversations with very little narrative threads connecting them. But Zhao remains committed to capturing the joys and hardship of residential life where everyone has to hustle for money but beauty, friends and family are everywhere to be seen.