The new coming-of-age film from Billy Luther, produced by ARRAY, asks the young Navajo protagonists to share their personal traumas and tragedies as well as those of their family members. Because of this weighty task, the film feels slightly uneven at times. The young actors are doing most of the heavy lifting and there’s a slight emotional flatness to their characters, but there’s a likelihood that the up-and-down feel of the film connects to the difficulty and potential inability to fully express themselves.
Frybread Face and Me focuses on a young boy named Benny (Keir Tallman). His parents decide to send him to “the rez” (an Arizona ranch where his maternal grandmother, uncle, and aunt live) for the summer, even though Benny was looking forward to his first Fleetwood Mac concert. Upon arrival, he realizes his grandmother (Sarah H. Natani) still refuses to learn English, communicating only in Navajo, his favorite Aunt Lucy (Kahara Hodges) doesn’t permanently hang around, and his Uncle Marvin (Martin Sensmeier) is mean and stern. Fortunately, Benny’s cousin, nicknamed Frybread Face, is also dropped off. In contrast to him, Fry (Charley Hogan) helps her grandmother with her weaving and cooking, and she also loves music. The two children learn about one another’s world while trying to survive in a harsh summer, full of critical family members, boredom, and loss of autonomy.
Luther’s film is beautiful in its subtlety, as audiences move from grandmothers to aunts to cousins, we realize that the women in Benny’s life lead the way. His father and uncle imply that he’s playing with dolls, though Benny is doing what most typical boys do and plays with plastic, action figures. It’s implied Benny needs “the rez” to toughen up and once he arrives, his uncle mocks him for his struggles with tools, inability to herd, and struggles with manual labor. Amid the mockery, he still yells for him to work more and harder. It’s no surprise that Benny ends up spending more time with his Aunt Lucy as she teaches Fry how to take care of her skin and use makeup. Benny’s grandmother even teaches him how to take care of his hair and how to weave rugs their traditional way.
The film requires some heavy lifting from its young performers. Tallman and Hogan are on screen in almost every scene, tasked with expressing the emotions of modern Navajo children, carrying the weight of their family. The film feels uneven because these young characters will randomly have moments of intense emotion, raising their voice and crying, or reverting inward and smoldering, all with little transition. This is a difficult task for young actors, but the direction appears designed to almost mimic an anxiety attack and outburst or overflowing of action. Upon initial viewing, the outbursts take the audience out of the film, but upon reflection, there’s some hidden purpose in the moments.
Frybread Face and Me’s strengths are the runtime and pacing, in that there’s no sense of any material being unnecessarily cut, as well as the solid production value. Shooting in New Mexico as an Arizona stand-in helps especially since the chosen location is so barren. The characters are written well, though very subtle, with Hodges bringing the most energy to the script as Aunt Lucy; while Tallman and Hodges are at their best when matching her presence in scenes together.
It’s fully comprehensible that buried trauma could boil over unexpectedly. Unfortunately, each character is seemingly struggling with this, leading to verbal assaults, which sometimes lead to physical assaults. Frybread Face and Me finds a way to be both loud and quiet, but don’t overlook it. This is a special film that requires a closer look, especially considering the country’s current transition into rectifying past atrocities.
Frybread Face and Me is currently playing in select theaters and is available to stream on Netflix.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpsh5U17so]
Jeffrey W. Peterson is a teacher, critic, and writer. He previously taught English Composition at Spelman College and the University of West Georgia, as well as Language Arts and percussion at metro-Atlanta high schools. He currently teaches at Fusion Academy in Alpharetta, GA, while pursuing a PhD in Moving Image Studies at Georgia State University. He has a BA in English, an MFA in Writing, and in addition to membership in Atlanta Film Critics Circle (AFCC), he’s also a member of the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) and Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic. Previous work appears in Naija Nerds, The Streamr, Murphy’s Multiverse, and Indie Film Minute.
