Saturday, July 27, 2024

Fancy Dance - 3 1/2 Stars - June 28, 2024 - STREAMING - APPLE

There's nothing fancy in Lily Gladstone's impressive but small independent production Fancy Dance.   Set on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma, Gladstone plays Jax, a woman willing to do what it takes to survive, including a certain amount of grifting and stealing. Living with her niece Roki, played by Isabel Deroy-Olson, life gets harder when Jax' sister goes missing.  Soon child services come for the niece, prodded by a grandfather and his wife.  Jax and Roki go on the lamb, trying to discover the missing sister's fate, and evade child services.    The plot doesn't tie up neat, but concludes in a swirl of culture, law, love, and mistakes.  Fancy Dance gains your attention and doesn't let go---an extraordinary independent film.