“Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau), the protagonist of The Rider, was a rodeo cowboy until a few months ago, when he fell off a bucking horse and suffered a traumatic head injury. With a metal plate in his head and doctor’s orders never to return to the saddle, Brady mostly finds himself wandering around South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation with little to do. In the cruelest irony, the brain damage has given rise to a strange symptom: One of Brady’s hands sometimes locks into a clenched fist, physically unable to let go of whatever he’s holding onto.
“The Rider is director Chloé Zhao’s second movie, which debuted at last year’s Cannes Film Festival before getting a surprise slew of nominations at this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards. That critical attention isn’t misplaced. The Rider is a powerful, confident work that blends fact and fiction to create an authentic portrait of life in South Dakota’s Sioux community. At the tale’s centre is a man struggling to put aside the one thing that gave his life meaning, even though he knows it could kill him if he doesn’t.” - The Atlantic
"It's just plain excellent." - Chicago-Tribune
"Filmmaker Chloé Zhao turns the story of real-life bronc rider Brady Jandreau into a gritty, graceful character study. Once The Rider hooks you - and believe me, it will - there's no way you will ever forget it." - Rolling Stone
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