Fancy Dance
Lily Gladstone excels again in a touching, socially relevant and human drama set on an Oklahoma reservation.
No reservations: Isabel DeRoy-Olson and Lily Gladstone
Image courtesy of Apple TV+
Regardless of what part she takes, Lily Gladstone never appears to be acting. She generates such restraint and intelligence that she gives off an air of ingrained naturalism. She was the first Native American performer to be nominated for a best actress Oscar earlier this year, for Killers of the Flower Moon, and in Fancy Dance she could hardly be more different. Yet she still exudes a warmth and wisdom and stillness that makes it hard to take one’s eyes off her.
In Erica Tremblay’s directorial debut, she plays Jax Goodiron, a Seneca-Cayuga woman who dotes on her 13-year-old niece, Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson). The film opens on a scene of outstanding natural beauty as Jax tutors Roki on the wonders of the natural world, as a white fisherman looks on from a distance. As Jax bathes herself in the waters, and he is distracted by the vision before him, Roki helps herself to the fisherman’s belongings.
Suddenly, the film is transformed from a tale of the Native American in his natural environment into something entirely more contemporary and authentic. These people live on the fringes of society, and of the law, even though Jax’s brother is a sheriff on her reservation. Their sister Tawi has gone missing and Jax divides her time between searching for her sibling and attending to Roki’s needs. It’s a symbiotic partnership and Roki trusts Jax implicitly just as Jax adores her charge.
Then, as Tremblay gently builds up her mise en scène, from the character study of a singular woman to the story of a search, the film splits into a three-pronged narrative that is consistently gripping because it always feels so real. Jax Goodiron is far from the noble, law-abiding figure of recent Hollywood myth readjustment, although she is as strong-willed and independent as her cinematic forebears. But Tremblay and Gladstone are not interested in painting a saint, but creating a woman of her time and circumstances who must do what she does to survive. Jax is a smoker, a drinker and a thief, with a fruity tongue to boot, but is so much more besides. When she visits a strip bar, it is not an understatement to say it is more than a shock when she pays for a lap dance (with a generous tip).
Tremblay is not interested in straightforward representations of her people and her story is all the stronger because of it. As the drama gathers momentum, the rapport between Jax and Roki gains complexity, not least when representatives from social care snatch Roki away as her situation is not “meeting the standards of foster placement.” Both child and aunt are, of course, devastated, particularly as they have been preparing for the traditionally all-important state powwow in one week’s time.
It is maybe unfortunate that Tremblay feels obliged to steer her film into more generic waters by the final hurdle because what she presents on screen is drama strong enough. At times, it’s so truthful it hurts. But this is Oklahoma and people do have guns, and drug dealing is a way of life on most reservations. Tremblay, who is herself of Seneca-Cayuga birth, is not interested in romanticising or gilding the Native American myth, but of telling it as it is, albeit with humanity to spare. Consequently, Fancy Dance feels one of the most creditable portraits of present-day tribal life and, if it didn’t look so damned good, might be mistaken for a docudrama.
Tremblay is also a wonderful actors’ director. Gladstone besides (who is already attracting Oscar buzz for her performance), there are first-rate turns from Isabel DeRoy-Olson as Roki (with that mischievous glint in her eyes) and Ryan Begay as Roki’s uncle. Even Cory Hart, who has a brief scene as a homeland security agent, makes an indelible impression. The incidental detail, too, is significant, from a half-glimpsed VHS of Dances with Wolves to a scrawl of graffiti on a bathroom wall that reads ‘Make America White Again’. So when did America become so white?
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Lily Gladstone, Isabel DeRoy-Olson, Ryan Begay, Crystyle Lightning, Shea Whigham, Audrey Wasilewski, Dennis Newman, Arianne Martin, Cory Hart.
Dir Erica Tremblay, Pro Deidre Backs, Erica Tremblay, Heather Rae, Nina Yang Bongiovi and Tommy Oliver, Ex Pro Lily Gladstone and Forest Whitaker, Screenplay Erica Tremblay and Miciana Alise, Ph Carolina Costa, Pro Des Charlotte Royer, Ed Robert Grigsby Wilson, Music Samantha Crain, Costumes Amy Higdon, Sound David Barber.
Significant Productions/Confluential Films-Altitude Film Distribution/Apple TV+.
91 mins. USA. 2023. UK and US Rel: 28 June 2024. Cert. 15.
