Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
Frybread Face and Me
Originally Released: 11/24/2023
Watched: 03/04/2023
1080P HD digital streaming on Netflix, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra
Benny is a "city Indian", growing up with his parents and paternal grandmother in San Diego. With trouble at home, and with his father worried about Benny's effeminate tendencies, he is sent away to spend the summer with his maternal grandmother on the Navajo Nation.
Recommended?
Why? Part of the latest upswell of indigenous filmmaking, Billy Luther makes his directorial feature debut with this coming of age story with subtle LBGTQ elements. It's narrated by the adult Billy, looking back to the summer of 1990, which changed his life. The pleasure is seeing all of the disparate family members interacting with one another and growing through one another. Benny, being so disconnected from his culture, is the perfect window into this world; our understanding of his Diné family grows as his does. And though Grandma Lorraine doesn't speak a word of English in the movie, we see over and over again how she she keeps the family together and connects them to their culture and their heritage. She's played by Sarah H. Natani, a celebrated weaver, and the scenes where Grandma Lorraine works on her rugs are hypnotic. Keir Tallman brings a quiet open perceptiveness to Benny, while Charley Hogan brings a fiercely defiant charisma to Benny's cousin, Frybread Face. And the vast open landscapes of the New Mexico desert make the story feel utterly seperate and detached from the wider world.
Originally Released: 11/24/2023
Watched: 03/04/2023
1080P HD digital streaming on Netflix, upscaled to 4K via Roku Ultra
Benny is a "city Indian", growing up with his parents and paternal grandmother in San Diego. With trouble at home, and with his father worried about Benny's effeminate tendencies, he is sent away to spend the summer with his maternal grandmother on the Navajo Nation.
Recommended?
Why? Part of the latest upswell of indigenous filmmaking, Billy Luther makes his directorial feature debut with this coming of age story with subtle LBGTQ elements. It's narrated by the adult Billy, looking back to the summer of 1990, which changed his life. The pleasure is seeing all of the disparate family members interacting with one another and growing through one another. Benny, being so disconnected from his culture, is the perfect window into this world; our understanding of his Diné family grows as his does. And though Grandma Lorraine doesn't speak a word of English in the movie, we see over and over again how she she keeps the family together and connects them to their culture and their heritage. She's played by Sarah H. Natani, a celebrated weaver, and the scenes where Grandma Lorraine works on her rugs are hypnotic. Keir Tallman brings a quiet open perceptiveness to Benny, while Charley Hogan brings a fiercely defiant charisma to Benny's cousin, Frybread Face. And the vast open landscapes of the New Mexico desert make the story feel utterly seperate and detached from the wider world.
loved it
