A deeply resonant portrait of a broken family, Chloe Zhao's Songs My Brothers Taught Me is a meditative study of a brother and sister forced to grow up far too fast, living with their single mother on Pine Ridge Reservation. With an older brother already in jail, Johnny and his sister Jashuan's lives are a constant challenge, forced more often than not to fend for themselves due to their mother's alcoholism and neglect. When their absentee father dies in a fire, Johnny decides to look for a better life in Los Angeles, a decision that has major ramifications for his younger sister, whom he would be leaving behind. Chloe Zhao's Songs My Brothers Taught Me is one of the more emotionally effective coming of age films I've seen in some time, a beautiful and poignant examination of the alienation one can feel in the harsh world which they cannot control and only partially understand. Johnny is a character who has grown to resent where he comes from due to the hand he has been dealt, a character who feels trapped and willing to do whatever it takes to free himself from the reservation, which he views as a burden. The one exception to this is his younger sister, Jashuan, who has yet to completely lose her innocence, the only soul who still seems to be capable of tapping into Johnny's youthful exuberance. They have a shared connection, coming from this broken home, with their few moments of peace and happiness coming on open plains, where their exuberance, at least for a moment, is able to thrive freely. Songs My Brothers Taught Me is a ultimately a story of love and sacrifice, as Johnny comes to the realization that his younger sister must always come first. It is a tender, and impressively well acted by both the youth leads, who managed to balances the array of emotions necessary for this ttype of performance. Beautifully photographed, Songs My Brothers Taught Me visually exhibits the emotions of its characters, through the deep blue skies, open plains, and rolling thunder of their environment, showing an observant eye with documentary style cinematography which aims to capture the environment in which these characters inhabit. Soulful and meditative, the visuals evoke a spiritual quality, one in which the land is very much a character, with Songs My Brothers Taught Me exhibiting the native american culture through its visual medium. The mother is barely in the film at all, another broken adult character, as the film paints a rather cold portrait of life on the reservation, one where alcoholism is a rampant problem and families struggle accordingly. The film is a somber reminder of the importance of the family unit, a story told masterfully well with visual punch and a soulful quality. Tender, heartful, and alive, Chloe Zhao's Songs My Brothers Taught Me is a stunning, meditative coming-of-age story which has visual design that beautiful exhibits the culture and emotion of its characters.
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June 2023
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