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Lily Gladstone adds depth to the feature debut of Native American documentary maker Erica Tremblay, a family drama that illuminates the disappearance of women from the reservation.
Gladstone stars as Jax, a woman looking to put her drug-dealing past behind her as she raises her teenage niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) on Oklahoma’s Seneca Cayuga Nation reservation. Jax is also struggling with her white father, Frank (Shea Whigham), who remarried a white woman after the death of Jax’s mother.
Jax has been trying to look after Roki since her sister Tawi disappeared. Jax has a bad feeling about her sister’s disappearance, while Roki believes her mother will reappear during the annual powwow.
Fancy Dance review
Lily Gladstone proves she is more than a one-trick pony after her award-winning appearance in Killers Of The Flower Moon. While Mollie Buckhart is stoic and elegant, Jax is messy and complicated. Gladstone plays her with a lightness like a woman slowly processing her past and where she wants her future to go.
Fancy Dance delicately handles the family drama, especially the relationship between those who live on the reservation and those who do not. When child services intervene in her relationship with her niece, placing Roki with her well-meaning grandparents, Jax starts to make impulsive decisions.
Tremblay pulls all the focus on Okahoma’s Seneca-Cayuga Reservation, where she grew up. Beautifully shot and filled with details, Fancy Dance is a refreshingly honest portrayal of modern life as a Native American woman. This includes dialogue seamlessly switching between Cayuga and English, sometimes mid-conversation.
The Reservation is populated by complicated characters who are doing everything they can to survive in a world that does not serve them, the epidemic of missing Indigenous women treated more as a thing that just happens rather than a cause for concern.
The plot itself is a lovely but generic tale of a surrogate mother-daughter forming a bond during hard times. Isabel Deroy-Olson and Lily Gladstone have a natural chemistry that elevates Fancy Dance. Their scenes are a consistent delight, even if their dynamic isn’t an original one.
The movie slowly rolls through side plots involving a variety of authorities, including Child Protective Services and ICE, alongside short-fused drug dealers and queer strippers. There is a lot going on, creating a detailed world of modern Native American life. Sadly, Fancy Dance wants to cover too much, never allowing the audience to get their teeth into one story. The tension and genuine worry for the welfare of Roki and her mother is all too brief in the grand scheme of genres. The film isn’t sure if it wants to be a crime drama, a thriller, or an exploration of different generations of women in one family.
Fancy Dance is at its best when it focuses on the relationship between Jax and Roki. Jax is resigned to her life and its injustices, while Roki is young enough to still have hope. Despite all the secondary stories, the film is ultimately about one little girl’s journey to the powwow in the hopes that her mother will return.
Despite the emotional core, Fancy Dance is a sometimes-bitter film about womanhood and being a Native American woman in 21st century USA. It openly talks about periods and female sexuality and bodies. Roki needs a strong female role model and while Jax is not an obvious choice, she is the best option Roki has.
Fancy Dance is a welcome addition to the growing catalog of Indigenous stories told by indigenous people. The plot feels well-worn, and audiences won’t find any surprises, but they will find a touching tribute to the community Tremblay grew up in and the women who aren’t given the respect they deserve.
Grade: B-
Fancy Dance
Following her sister's disappearance, Jax and her niece Roki must stick together. Desperate to keep what's left of their family intact, Jax and Roki defy the law and hit the road on a journey to the Grand Nation Powwow in Oklahoma City.
Release Date: June 21, 2024
Director: Erica Tremblay
Cast: Lily Gladstone , Isabel Deroy-Olson , Ryan Begay
