The Rider: Chloé Zhao's film Reinvigorates the Western with Curiosity and Heart

“I hope they don’t forget about this film come Oscar season.” They’re going to forget about this film come Oscar season.” These were my thoughts only moments after watching Director Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider.” I thought these things because I genuinely felt the impact of this film that strongly, and I genuinely felt that way. I felt that way, because Zhao’s film is the kind that always gets ignored come Oscar season. It is too under seen a film, with too early a release date. It possesses the kind of beauty and craft that that hangs on to you but never stifles ( in my opinion the academy likes being stifled). Zhao’s film is patient in every possible way. It wants its story of a Rider permanently impaired by brain damage stemming from an accident dialogue, its picturesque landscapes, its characters to soak, to permeate the deeper portions of your memory…and it does.

One of the more interesting aspects of Chloé Zhao’s film is the way it mines common preconceptions of the almost folkloric type of masculinity associated with the Midwest (more specifically Cowboys) for something more flexible, something more inviting to the audience. All the typical sign posts are still there, the emotional restraint, the use of aggression as a tool, the isolation, the unsaid regulation of behaviors not in keeping with “being a man”. They are all there, but they are each of them softer, subtler, and more endearing. It can be noted in the interactions between Brady and his compadres, the attention - and care given to Lane Scott ( - another rodeo great impaired by a tragic injury), or to his beloved real life sister Lily. I would venture to say that quite possibly the most beautiful, interesting and engaging proof of this lies in relationship between Brady and his horses. Unlike in other films where this is used a s a prop to show the cowboy’s skill or to impose upon us his level of attractiveness (especially as it may pertain to an object of his affections) this is just about their relationship. I don’t need to hear how Brady does it. For me, it holds no pertinence beyond informing the rest of us how much he knows. Zhao is interested in the love, the feeling , the patience Brady possesses. The attraction she desires is more more natural and less forced through dialogue meant to “ooh” and “aw” the rest of us. Zhao is almost as interested in the horses as she is Brady, because she wants us to see how the horses react. That is how she informs the audience he knows what he is doing. It’s how she conveys to us the relationship, and the love within. Various close-ups on the eyes, - cuts to various body parts, and intimate shots affirm this. There is a scene where Brady has to put down a horse who escapes its paddock and seriously maims itself. There is a deep sadness to the scene that goes beyond Brady’s pain, because Zhao is not content to merely center Brady’s emotion. Whether its anthropomorphic or not we are given cues to empathize in a distinctive manner with this animal. To be made to feel as though this animal senses its end. That the horse is afraid and unsure of what to do. We find it just standing there, but it’s not laying down, it hasn’t given up, but it also is not running, because he’s too badly hurt. The horse wants to go on doing what it is meant to do, what it wants to do, but can’t. In providing this parallel between horse and rider , it humanizes the horse allowing for a deeper empathy than normal. It is romance in the most classical sense, and it’s one of the better displays of the relationship between horse and rider, man and beast, I’ve seen on film.

Zhao’s work is deliberately paced, has an arc, but its subtle. You’re not always aware of just where you’re going because much like the characters in the work of Director Asghar Farhadi, they seem to be figuring it out as we are. I would gather by conjecture that Zhao is the type of director that doesn’t necessarily map out the entire stories, and that she sort of allows them to tell their own story from inside her head. I don’t know that this is actually the case, but the magic of Zhao’s film is that it gives the appearance of such. Like Fahardi films, it has the feel of a documentary without taking a documentary’s actual form. It never once feels like a sprint upon a well paved track, but rather a walk along an unpaved road. At first it’s cold, you’re unsure and you wonder where it is you’re going. Sometimes you interrupt the conversation wondering how long you’ve walked thus far, but once you’ve arrived there is this intense emotionality tied to you, lingering about your person. You’ve been on this quiet, staggered, picturesque walk and you’ve learned something about everyone involved. You’ve learned about Zhao, Jandreau, and cinematographerJoshua James Richards. You’ve rediscovered through their eyes an aspect of Americana that has almost been reduced to myth and legend, here redeemed and reinvigorated by newfound curiosity , and an outside perspective .

THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS: Why Agent Ray Nadeem was the most interesting character in Daredevil S3

[This post contains spoilers for Daredevil Season three]

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men” - Jules Winnfield

It’s the oft misquoted, but definitive line from Pulp Fiction’s most celebrated character; Jules Winnfield. It is also an apropos summary of what is at the heart of the story behind Daredevil Season Three’s most interesting Character, Agent Ray Nadeem. Though I don’t see it as a problem (Mostly because most heroes in film and television are the least interesting aspect of their own story) Daredevil/Matt Murdock has never been the most interesting part of Daredevil. In Season One that was Wilson Fisk. Season Two, it was The Punisher and Elektra. Season three, it’s undoubtedly Ray Nadeem. What makes Nadeem so riveting is not just his flaws, but the forces that have conspired against him, and his sincere nobility despite them. Unlike the titular hero, or his cohorts, Agent Nadeem’s nobility is not steeped in condescension, self-righteousness, or stupidity. It is an authentic, practical form of the quality. I’ve never thought of nobility as perfection, and found that those who aim too high and radical an ideal themselves waver between extremes much like Daredevil. Matt Murdock tends to set way to tall a standard of righteousness for himself and others. Then spend entire seasons stomping around in his all black Osh Kosh B’Gosh’s throwing fisticuff tantrums throughout the city, because his standards were unrealistic. Whereas Murdock in my mind plays too long a game, Nadeem seems to understand nobility is about the short game. Taking whats in front of you and dealing with each problem as it comes. To be more concise, like that of Solomon Northup in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, Nadeem does not “Fall into despair, he keeps himself hardy until the moment is opportune”.

It is Agent Ray Nadeem who I found to be most sympathetic as a character, because he was the only character in the show believably acting in the interest of someone other than himself. Which is what made me laugh indignantly when of all people Matthew Murdock tried to give Ray a dressing down for his “role” in the Kingpin’s scheming. When tracing back all of Nadeem’s wrongheaded decisions, it is not difficult to assess at their root a genuine desire to fend for and provide for his extended and immediate families. Nadeem was targeted, and drawn into Kingpins trap through financial pressure that threatened not only his family’s financial wellbeing, but his Sister-In-Laws life. He clings so hard to the idea that his arrests are “legit”, because - A. He’s gunning for a promotion (mostly to help procure some financial stability after aiding his sister-in-law’s recovery ) and the fact that he was being duped would completely undermine the one shot he had worked so hard for. B. His own ego. The Kingpin knows this, because thats what the Kingpin does throughout this season; Identify people’s weaknesses - and then apply immense pressure. Despite a tyranny of evil men and women who act as proverbial walls closing in on Nadeem and his family, Nadeem is never always looking for a way to do the right thing. He is rarely acting in self-interest, which is more than I can say for any other character in the show. For instance, Matthew Murdock is too busy having his own pity party and mostly acts out on his own hate and desire for revenge. Karen Page spends the entire time trying to redeem herself for past sins that reside in shaky logic in the first place. While Foggy spends his portion of the season trying to prove his own worth by incredulously suggesting (despite all evidence to the extreme contrary) everyone rely on the same system that acted in collusion with the Kingpin. While Nadeem and his family are mostly placed in harm’s way by the Kingpin’s machinations, Daredevil and his cohorts mostly place themselves and others in the way of danger unnecessarily (Karen Page is especially good at this- [See her visit to Kingpins home to instigate him killing her] ).

Karen reveals to Fisk that she killed James Wesley. Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 Episode 8 "Upstars/Downstairs"

Though the show spends a lot of time obviously on its titular hero, it is at its best when its focus is Nadeem. The season as a whole becomes more claustrophobic, relatable, less insipid, when we watch the slow burn of Nadeem’s increasingly strained arc. His psychopathic co-worker, his compromised, (though in a similar situation) boss, and of course Wilson Fisk himself - shrink Nadeem’s options moment by moment, scene by scene, until he feels he only has the one. Nadeem acts as the true heart of the show it’s conscious, and its a good thing we continue to see him until nearly the very end, because a lot of the shows air bottomed out upon his death.

Clip from Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 Episode 13 Enjoy Have a great day May the force be with you This channel is 100% non profit. All content in any ways whether its music or video is owned by their righfully owners, Marvel Studios and Netflix.

The other factor aiding in making Nadeem the most relatable character in the show is actor Jay Ali. His steady, measured, but assured performance as Ray Nadeem is quite possibly the best in the show (my only other possibility being Wilson Bethel as (Agent Pointdexter/Bullseye ). As an actor Ali embodies all the qualities needed to endear us to Agent Nadeem in spades (Identifiable in the clip above). Ali was adept at conveying in small, subtle expressions; the look and feel of moral compromise, indecision, as well as that overall feeling of being trapped - and most importantly, fear. His reaction to the shocking murder of another agent in front of him by his boss made for one of the more memorable scenes in television this year in no small part due to his work . His expression of the shock on his face after the pivotal betrayal, was one I’ll never forget.

Daredevil Season Three was one of the better Marvel seasons - but it did suffer from a bit of magical writing - and placing shock value over script logistics. The characters this season were especially annoying, and Daredevil continues to be given “Wolverine-like” healing abilities despite the character having no such ability in the Marvel canon. For me Agent Nadeem did a lot of the heavy lifting especially when some of these gripes conspired in unison to turn me off to the season. Nadeem was “The Righteous Man” Jules Winnfield spoke of in Tarantino’s mash-up of made-up and actual bible verses. Beset on all sides by tyranny, yet sturdily noble and true to reasonable and steady principles throughout. The character was a well-acted, well drawn and executed hero, and THE best part of this season. Quite possibly the best side character introduced into any of the previous Marvel television efforts. Bravo to the writers, and especially to actor Jay Ali.