Written and Directed by Chloe Zhao
Starring John Reddy, Jashaun St. John, and Irene Bedard
Running Time: 98 minutes
Released by Kino Lorber October 5

by Ian Hrabe, Staff Writer

In the wake of Chloe Zhao coming out of nowhere to become one of America’s great auteurs, Kino Lorber is reissuing her 2015 debut feature Songs My Brothers Taught Me on home video. What’s most surprising about this film is how Zhao’s directorial prowess feels fully formed. This isn’t a flawed debut with flashes of promise that we can look forward to reaping once the director has some more work under their belt. It’s a film where the authorial voice is unlike anyone else’s, and one that we have seen grow stronger with each subsequent film. Zhao’s trajectory from her quietly powerful debut, to her 2017 breakout The Rider, to her Academy Award winning Nomadland, to directing a freaking Marvel movie in the forthcoming Eternals is the sort of thing it takes most filmmakers an entire career to accomplish. That Zhao has done all of this in the span of six years makes her one of the most exciting filmmakers currently working. 

The most interesting thing about Chloe Zhao is the stories she chooses to tell. That a Chinese-born millennial has spent her career telling stories from dimly lit little corners of the American West is fascinating. Regardless of why she chooses these stories, the way she tells them with so much authenticity is mind blowing. Sure, filmmakers have used non-actors in the past to edge ever closer to the notion of “cinema is truth at 24 frames per second,” but I can’t think of another director who has blurred the line between narrative feature and documentary the way Zhao does. 

Songs My Brothers Taught Me is set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The film’s loosely plotted story follows 18-year-old John Winters (John Reddy) and his young sister Jashaun (Jashaun St. John). They have an older brother in jail, an absentee mother, and their father has recently died in a house fire. At the funeral we learn that John and Jashaun’s father had 25 children by 9 different women. To say our young protagonists have a complicated life is an understatement, and their struggles on the poverty-stricken reservation are harrowing. All of this is set amid South Dakota’s picturesque Badlands, so it’s fitting that the film’s stunning cinematography--and while we’re at it, it’s whole vibe--is reminiscent of Terrence Malick. 

In true neo-realistic fashion, the film’s narrative is loosely based on its star John Reddy’s own life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His father also had 25 children by 9 different women, and his real-life house serves as his character’s house in the film. It is clear that Zhao’s aim is to tell the most authentic story possible, and the performances she gets out of both Reddy and Jashaun St. John serves as a masterclass in wringing engrossing performances out of non-actors. It feels like pure cinematic wizardry. You never doubt these characters for a second and their performances anchor this film firmly in reality. Sure, the Academy Award winning performance she got out of Frances McDormand is incredible, Songs My Brothers Taught Me feels like an even more impressive directorial effort from Zhao given that this is just as powerful as Nomadland and she didn’t have a generational talent like McDoramand to work with. 

If this reads like a love letter to Chloe Zhao, well, it kind of is, and I’m not sure how to avoid that. As film fans I feel like we’re always trying to find that next filmmaker who is going to make us fall in love with movies all over again. We end up watching a lot of trash, a lot of near misses, and a lot of directors not quite living up to their potential. When you find one that is truly special who can show you the world in a way you haven’t seen before, that’s magic. That feeling of knowing you’re going to get decades worth of films from that filmmaker is the sort of thing that makes you recommit yourself to your life as a film lover. Sure, we’re always going to end up sitting through letdowns, misfires, and absolute crap, but it’s a journey worth weathering with a constant like Chloe Zhao.