The Rider is an American cowboy tale from a relatively new Chinese director. It also features a cast of people who've never acted before. And it's apparently awesome. Brady Jandreau, a real-life cowboy who suffered a brain injury in a 2016 fall, stars alongside his friends and family members in Chloé Zhao's new feature, a lightly fictionalized telling of his struggle to get back on a horse. What critics are saying:
- Describing it as an "achingly beautiful heartland elegy," Justin Chang says The Rider "comes as close to a spiritual experience as anything I've encountered in a movie theater this year." He credits its "gorgeous frontier lyricism" and star at the Los Angeles Times. "Is Jandreau acting, or merely being? I'd suggest a third option somewhere in between, in that mysterious realm where art resides," he writes.
- "How many stirring moments does it take to make a great movie? Whatever the number, The Rider has more than enough," writes Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street Journal. His review describes an "ineffably beautiful drama" of intense bonds and "masculine pride," benefited by the "complexity and poignancy" Jandreau brings. "It's a rare treat to be so affected by—and connected to—a movie hero of so few words, and such vivid ones," Morgenstern says.