The Rider

R

Released Apr 13, 2018

1h 44m

Drama

Western

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List

97%

191 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

After a riding accident leaves him unable to compete on the rodeo circuit, a young cowboy searches for a new purpose.

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Critics Consensus

The Rider's hard-hitting drama is only made more effective through writer-director Chloé Zhao's use of untrained actors to tell the movie's fact-based tale.

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Georgan G

All the non-actors play themselves & are wonderful. Based on a true story of poverty & choices. I watched in awe as the protagonist live-trained a horse.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/13/24

Full Review

Alec B

Zhao wisely sidesteps the inspirational narrative route and sticks to a simpler character study. The results are often poetic, but never pretentious or condescending. The use of untrained actors may be the most interesting choice, it only enhances the film's emotional potency.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

Full Review

Bharat W

Best movie of the decade that restored my faith in exceptional filmmaking. It's an audacious achievement by Director Chloe Zhao who ventures into content and territory usually foreign to the modern-day film-watching audience with delicate precision and artistry. She draws cathartic performances out of the characters who are both simple in their external texture as they are deeply dimensional in their humanity and far more original than what Hollywood otherwise produces with their vast budgets. A must-watch for film lovers and a crown jewel achievement in filmmaking by a promising Director still relatively early in her career.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/28/23

Full Review

Julie M

It's not what I expected, but better. I don't think this film can really be analyzed or critiqued. It's just experienced. It dug in deep and filled me up. It may not be for everyone, but it was for me. A truly wondrous movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/18/23

Full Review

Kyle M

Genuine gifted storyteller Chloé Zhao mainly settles for insightful realism under a fictionalized narrative form of a documentary with real people and real stories located rurally. "Nomadland" timely redefine homelessness down to specialized van dwellers starring Frances McDormand and David Strathairn as the only actors experiencing the trip, then her unceremonious leap into "Eternals" became an exception but still details her way of connecting towards the two aforementioned aspects. Going deeper into one of her two earlier works, "The Rider" is considered her breakthrough and a definite independent film because she got personally connected while filming her preceding debut "Songs My Brother Taught Me". "The Rider" is technically inspired by a true story in the Lakota Sioux of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, reflecting on a tragic riding accident fatally injured the young rodeo cowboy star Brady, whose condition put an end to his riding and competition days. Chloé connected with Brady's story when he said, "If any animal around here got hurt like I did, they'd have to be put down." Horses sadly beyond medical repair go to a heavenly farm rather than suffering with the sudden injury in prolonged misery. For Brady's case, he wonders what else to live for when the purpose he thought he was given turned out lost just for his safety. He attempts to ride and find that sunset with newfound identity when he pursues that "idea on what it means to be a man in the heartland of America." As brilliantly witnessed in "Nomadland" with couple professional actors interacting with real people and learning their preferred mini lifestyle trekking unseen beauty, its spiritually connected predecessor here stars an entire cast of non-professional Lakota actors playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Brady Jandreau pivots the film as the main subject, alongside his family and many of his close friends playing as themselves, along a respectfully thought-out story elaborating his now-fragile passion, subtly tracking about how to truly live. He embodies that modernization of a cowboy hanging up his hat and removes his boots out of reluctant acceptance towards a life restart, thus validating how much this was categorized as a contemporary western. They all performed naturally with sympathetic resonance enabled, as well picking up those nuanced thoughts. Although, just praising their performances is generality when they recognized the narration and just effortlessly moved along the familiar storyline because they lived it similarly and only re-enacted their memories composited slightly alternatively at supportive therapeutic extents. Simply put, they were being themselves, not just as performers. Any other film would probably add more dramatic pressure in favor of generic uplift. That just shows how respectful and realistic Chloé approached Brady's story, justified her connection and faithfully adapted her storytelling aim. Her boyfriend then Joshua James Richards supported her financially, and visually as the cinematographer with correct alignments further respecting those influences being depicted the way they would approve. "The Rider" is overall a unique graceful approach whilst further discovering Chloé's narrative capabilities as a humanely talented filmmaker solidifies both the recommendation and how her films build off of each other, which therefore certifies her as a compelling filmmaker worth attending. (B+)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Chris Z

This movie experience is like being a fly on the wall, watching the life of a former rodeo rider disintegrate and yet somehow, he carries on. It doesn't even feel like a movie; it feels like a documentary. It is acted and shot with an authenticity rarely found in modern movies. You can't help but sympathize with a young man who has taken his last curtain call in the rodeo arena, and has no choice but to find meaning in his life in other ways. Touching. Sad. Hopeful. Outstanding.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/25/22

Full Review

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Chloé Zhao

Director

Brady Jandreau

Brady Blackburn

Tim Jandreau

Wayne Blackburn

Lilly Jandreau

Lilly Blackburn

Lane Scott

Self

Cat Clifford

Self

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The Rider: Trailer 2

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The Rider: Trailer 1

2:01

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

An extraordinary translation of life into art.

Mar 5, 2020

Full Review

Linda Marric

HeyUGuys

Bold, heartfelt and, most importantly, unafraid, this is a remarkable film.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 5, 2019

Full Review

Nikki Baughan

Sight & Sound

The Rider reshapes the traditional cowboy narrative in a way that both embraces and challenges western tropes.

Dec 7, 2018

Full Review

Ryan McQuade

InSession Film

I love how Chloe Zhao makes this film almost feel like a bio-pic/documentary within this narrative structure, it’s as real as it could get and feels like something that is personal...

Apr 4, 2024

Full Review

Edward Porter

Sunday Times (UK)

Its tale of an injured rodeo rider describes economic hardships in poignant style, and into the bargain offers scenes and landscapes that might please any fan of cowboy movies.

Oct 24, 2022

Full Review

M.N. Miller

Ready Steady Cut

Chloe Zhao’s choice of the final scene to close out her sophomore effort is nothing short of extraordinary. Her film is as a salt of the earth as it is poetry in motion.

Rated: 4.5

Aug 17, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

After a riding accident leaves him unable to compete on the rodeo circuit, a young cowboy searches for a new purpose.

Director: Chloé Zhao
Producer: Dickey Abedon, Michael Sagol, Jasper Thomlinson
Screenwriter: Chloé Zhao
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Caviar, Highwayman Films
Rating: R (Language and Drug Use)
Genre: Drama, Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 13, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 7, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.4M
Runtime: 1h 44m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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