Posted on 08/16/2018 5:46:00 AM PDT by simpson96
After some movies, you’ve just got to sit with friends over coffee, maybe a piece of pie, and talk excitedly about that amazing Hollywood blockbuster.
Those fantastic chase scenes. The plot twists. The amazing stunts on the Kashmiri cliffs. And what does Ving Rhames really think about Tom Cruise?
But if you’re lucky, there might be a few movies in your life that require something besides chatter and pie:
A silence, and the need to go off by yourself for a bit to think on how lucky you were to have seen something that’ll stick with you for a long time.
“The Rider,” directed by Chloe Zhao, is that kind of movie.
It’s a stunner.
And I just lucked into it at home, absently flipping through movie trailers on cable. At first, I worried it might be horrible, the way the film based on a fine book by Cormac McCarthy, “All the Pretty Horses,” was lacquered up and ruined.
But this one wasn’t ruined.
“The Rider” is the story of a young horse trainer and rodeo cowboy on a ranch on a Lakota reservation. The film begins after he’s suffered a serious head injury. A zipper of stitches runs along the side of his skull.
Zhao doesn’t play games, or use tricks, she doesn’t sop it up with Western cliches. There is the landscape and a young man, 22, just a boy really, and riding is what he loves.
Life “for a horse is to run across a prairie,” he says, “for a cowboy, it’s to ride.”
But he can’t.
Riding and training horses are the things he’s truly good at. He’s a natural champion bronc rider. And he must decide whether to walk away from his dreams or face death.
He takes a job as
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I might not get around to watching this one; but, based on what I read here, I’m reminded of a 70s back shelf film I love to this day — “Breaking Away”. Some Indiana kids are coming of age, trying to figure out what to do with their lives. The film was remarkably carried along by themes of bicycle racing, opera and things Italian.
Think I’ll watch it again soon.
I was a student at IU Bloomington (where the movie Breaking Away took place and was filmed) while Breaking Away was being shot. Watched them shoot a few scenes at the quarry swimming holes.
"Don't call me shorty."
I recall a similar television movie decades ago. The only scene I clearly remember is the kid who idolized Italian pro cyclists was disillusioned when his Italian idols shoved a rod through his bicycle spokes during a race, causing him to crash.
Is this this same movie?
Yes, it is.
Great scene and life lesson for the kid.
The author mentions ‘Black Robe’...What a beautiful film that was
“What are you boys up to?”
“Well, I’m really concerned about the troubles in the Middle East...”
Black Robe is one of my all time favorite movies.
Warning for snowflakes: violence, nudity, and sex (heterosexual). You know, what humans do.
One of the BEST movies I’ve seen. Very REAL!
Me too, I thought Black Robe was beautiful and moving. I wish there were more movies like that.
Movie Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjXUHgH0OXw
Thanks!
Breaking Away was a good movie!
For its’ time, anyway.
It made me hate Italian bicycle racers.
I'll stipulate that it's a good movie. Haven't seen it and don't want to get in an argument about it.
Since when, exactly, is a 22 year old man "just a boy"???
One such movie was "Das Boot" which is about life in a German U-boat during WW2.
Since Obamacare required insurance companies to cover "kids" on their parents plans until they turned 26.
Since when, exactly, is a 22-year-old man “just a boy”???
It’s been my experience that some guys are men at 22 and some guys are still ‘boys’ at 22.
For example - a 22-year-old Green Beret and a 22-year-old college ‘snowflake’.
I know two of the guys who rode for the actual Cutters.
Interesting! Thanks.
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