Director Report Card: Chloe Zhao (2015)

Chloe Zhao is one of the more extraordinary cinematic success stories in recent memory. A Chinese immigrant, she began her career with a tiny independent film made for less than 200,000 dollars. By continuing to do what she does, Zhao won critical acclaim. And now, she's currently nominated for multiple Oscars, looking like the favorite to win in both the Best Director (she's the first Asian woman to ever be nominated in the category, much less win) and Best Picture category. And she already has a multi-million dollar Marvel superhero movie lined-up for release next. It's a pretty incredible career path and I'm intrigued to follow that evolution some more.

1. Songs My Brother Taught Me

Born in Beijing but living in English speaking countries since she was 15, Chloe Zhao grew up in an artistic family. Her mother was a singer and dancer and her step-mom is a famous Chinese actress. Studying film production in New York City, her feature debut would take her even further abroad. "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" was filmed in South Dakota, on a real Indian reservation, cast mostly with people from the local community. Quotes Zhao gave to the press would suggest that capturing realism was her goal above everything else. 

Set on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the film follows two siblings, John and his little sister Jashaun. Their older brother is in prison. Their mother is a manic-depressive and their estranged father - who left behind 25 other kids with other women - recently died in a house fire. John makes some money selling bootleg alcohol but it's abundantly clear he has no future on the reservation. He makes the secret plan to move to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, in hopes of starting a new life. When Jashaun discovers this, she is heartbroken.

More than anything else, "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" is devoted to showing life on an Indian reservation as it actually happens. The film is not groundbreaking in this regard, as a number of movies have depicted what people living in those communities go through. Yet Zhao's film is startling for the way it keenly captures the poverty of the situation. The homes seen here are falling apart. There's little in the way of work and there's not much to do most of the time. Many of the residents are ex-convicts or addicts. John and Jashaun are growing up in a series of ramshackle homes, lost amid a sprawling, flat, empty landscape. 

It's no wonder John is ready to walk away from it. But it's not that easy a choice to make. Family is a deeply important theme in "Songs My Brothers Taught Me." During their father's wake, John bonds with his myriad stepbrothers over the lack of presence their father had in their lives. He often visits his other brother in prison, who encourages him to leave the reservation. Yet Jashaun depends on him and he has roots here. It's a hard choice young people have to make every day, choosing between their fidelity to their families and the opportunity for a future.

Mostly, "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" is a movie about how people cope with living in such a depressed community. John and Jashaun's mother is a newly born-again Christian. She spends a lot of time at church, trying to figure out the twists life has thrown at her. Yet the kids often have other ways of coping. John dreams of becoming a boxer. Many of his classmates have similar ambitions of being professional bull riders. The rush of physical sports, the thrill and danger of it, helps kill the tedium of living in the middle of nowhere. 

I say John dreams of becoming a boxer. In the one scene where we actually see him get into the ring, he's soundly knocked on his ass several times. His classmates talk about wanting to become bull riders, how it's their sole plans for the future. A lengthy sequence set at a rodeo shows the riders getting tossed off the bulls far more often than anything else. These goals are not so easily achieved. Seemingly, no hopes and dreams make it off the reservation. The world of “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” is one where people have very little to look forward to.

But mostly, people pick drugs and alcohol to help them get through. John's mom is a recovering addict. His father was heavily implied to be a drunk. He scraps together a little money, re-selling alcohol on the reservation. It's illegal to sell booze on the reservation but this has done little to stop the rise of alcoholism among the locals. Sobriety and Twelve Step programs are constantly referenced in the background of the film. When not discussing alcohol, characters are seen constantly puffing on cigarettes or smoking mysterious substances out of pipes. It's clear that addiction is a constant source of strife in this community. It's an obstacle seemingly everyone is trying to overcome. 

Among the subplots Zhao uses to illustrate her grim points is one about Jashaun befriending an ex-convict. Recently paroled from prison, the man makes what money he can by producing art. He makes blankets and T-shirts, paintings and tattoos. It's interesting, the contrast between the man's rough and tumble appearance with the artistic side he shows. A more traditional film would've focused on this friendship more, a bond between an ex-con trying to get his life back together and a precocious young girl. Instead, this is but one fabric in “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” another dream that ends in disappointment.

That last detail points towards a problem I have with Zhao's debut film: Nothing much happens in it. It's another one of those indie dramas that are preoccupied with creating a sense of realism, that are practically documentaries in their lack of big dramatic events. While this is admirable, and the film is ultimately good, it's also incredibly slow. The movie only runs 98 minutes but feels considerably longer. More than once, during another languidly paced sequence, I found myself looking at the time and astounded to see there was still a half-hour left. It's possible Zhao did a little too good of a job of capturing what life is like on an Indian reservation where there's absolutely nothing to do. 

Frustratingly, the movie didn't have to be so slow. There's a real sense of a unique subculture being put on-camera sometimes in the movie. Jashaun visits a party with her brother, where a local band plays and people dress up and celebrate. (This makes Zhao, probably, the only Best Director Oscar winner to reference Juggalos in one of her movies.) A moment where John skins and cleans a deer he killed is another compelling, commonplace event you rarely see put on film. The scenes of the dinner after John's father's funeral, where stories are shared and addiction is discussed frankly, also feels like a really real moment put right on camera. There's a line between nothing happening and capturing meaningful real moments. It's a line “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” straddles for its whole run time.

Zhao's commitment to verisimilitude extends to the movie's visual approach. Most of “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” is shot in a very naturalistic manner. Many scenes are shot from a short distance, showing the characters go about their lives. More than once, Zhao simply points her camera at the impoverished homes. The interiors are often dimly lit and sparsely decorated. Yet Zhao is also capable of creating some really striking images. Jashaun has a striking dreams sequence, of a fire atop a mountain in the distance. This moment is mirrored in a scene where John's truck is set ablaze by rival bootleggers. It's obvious that the wide, flat plains of South Dakota were inspiring to the director, as she returns to that image again and again throughout “Songs My Brothers Taught Me's” run time.  

It's unsurprising to see that most of the cast of “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” were made up of first-timers, amateur actors who have done little work on-screen otherwise. A lot of the actors share their character names, further showing how Zhao's film is practically a documentary. John Reddy plays John. Jashaun St. John plays Jashaun. So forth. Reddy and St. John both give strong performances. Reddy projects the conflict and turmoil John feels through his eyes and body language. St. John is a bit more of a raw nerve, wearing her emotions closer to her sleeve. One imagines the feelings and thoughts the characters have are not too dissimilar to their own.

”Songs My Brothers Taught Me” would premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, playing Cannes shortly after that. The movie would earn many positive reviews from both screening, Zhao even winning the award for best first feature at Cannes. (One of these festivals is probably how Forest Whittaker, of all point, ended up becoming a producer for the movie.) The reviews were largely positive and the movie would even end up receiving a few nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards. Pretty good for a first movie made for less than 200,000 dollars. [Grade: B-]