Songs My Brothers Taught Me

“Where we live, the Plains, the Badlands, things usually look the same. People are always related. They got the same old worries all the time.” – Johnny Winters

SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME follows the relationship between Lakota Sioux Johnny Winters (John Reddy) and his little sister Jashaun (Jashaun St. John), who both live with their mom Lisa (Irene Bedard) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. With their older brother in jail and living with their single mother, Johnny and his sister Jashaun’s lives develop new challenges when their absent father suddenly dies – and leaves behind 25 children. The loss prompts Johnny to leave and follow his girlfriend to Los Angeles at the end of the school year, something that would mean abandoning his sister to the seemingly inescapable cycle of alcohol and poverty that chains much of the community.

Chloé Zhao created her debut with a very small budget and a limited crew. However, she saw these restrictions as an opportunity to tell the truth about a community that had been pushed into obscurity for generation and generations. “We’re capturing truth – because truth is the only thing we can afford”, said the director about the story that was based on the life of main actor John Reddy, was shot in his own home and used many of his relatives as extras. This aspect gives the film an almost uncomfortable layer of realism and a deep emotional resonance. You realise when watching that those same people on the screen will remain in the same place after the shoot, often without prospects and dreaming of a different life. Zhao’s aesthetic is naturalistic and austere, which we recognise from her later films such as THE RIDER and Oscar winner NOMADLAND. Her style is reminiscent of Terrence Malick’s, a free-spirited film style and cinematography that is led by the surroundings, in this case the beautiful Badlands of South Dakota.