tribeca:

“Skeptics might grumble that because ex-rodeo star Brady Jandreau has actually endured the physically and psychologically agonizing setbacks chronicled in Chloé Zhao’s The Rider that his star performance in this cinematic narrativization is not really a performance at all. Looking beyond independent cinema’s rich and rewarding history of employing nonprofessional actors, oftentimes in roles not far removed from their own lived realities, the emotional force of Jandreau’s front-and-center participation in this new American masterpiece could have only derived from a performer of obvious smarts and soulfulness. In recreating his own traumatic journey from superstar of the ring to reluctant retiree, Jandreau delineates identifiable moments by which to chart his character’s transformation, bringing his emotions to the fore in certain moments while elegantly letting them subside in others. He makes clear-cut choices about how to react in scene after scene, and by allowing this decision-making to oftentimes play out over the course of a single shot, and thus remain visible to the naked eye, Jandreau, in tandem with Zhao, shows us the inner tumult of a man who must choose between a perilous life of fame and fans or a modest, more responsible but no less important existence. How exactly Jandreau reached these heights may not always be clear, but what matters is that he reached them and, in doing so, supplied Zhao’s unique creation with the unbearably tender and ever-transparent performance it needed. After all, what difference does the divide between truth and fiction make when the tears this atypical actor sheds are as real and affecting as the complex heartbreak they evoke?” — Matthew Eng

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(Source: TribecaFilm.com)