FANCY DANCE - Mark Reviews Movies

Fancy Dance, Apple Original Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 27, 2024

The disappearance of an indigenous woman is what sets the story of Fancy Dance in motion. As for whether or not director Erica Tremblay and Miciana Alise's screenplay sees that as the driving force of its plot, that's a different matter entirely.

To be sure, Jax (Lily Gladstone), the missing woman's sister, and Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson), the woman's daughter, want to find their relative or want her to return, and for the most part, that desire is what leads the two on a trip across Oklahoma, following some leads along the way of trying to get to an annual powwow, where the mother and daughter would dance together every year. Once the aunt and niece are on the road, though, the movie seems more invested in its thriller elements than in examining the cost and pain of knowing a loved one could be in serious trouble or danger but nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it.

The opening sections of Tremblay's movie do get at that idea on a personal level. We simply watch as Jax and 13-year-old Roki attempt to carry on their lives and make ends meet on the reservation where they live, despite the fear that the woman's sister and the teen's mother might not return. That's not even mentioning the financial strain the woman's absence has put the two in, since she helped a lot with her job as a dancer at a local strip club.

Things were tough for the three before Tawi went missing. They took over their family's home after the death of the sisters' mother and when their white father Frank (Shea Whigham) immediately decided to leave the reservation, move to a suburban home, and marry Nancy (Audrey Wasilewski). Without much or any support, the sisters kept going by any means they could find, whether that be stealing from random people who fish in a stream by the reservation, shoplifting from little shops, or, as Jax learns soon about her sister, selling drugs to drilling workers who live in a neighboring camp.

The early part of this story puts all of that plainly, while also pointing out how bureaucratic systems meant to serve and protect the population often overlook or ignore indigenous communities. In this case, Tawi has been gone without a trace and with no contact for more than two weeks. Jax's half-brother JJ (Ryan Begay) works as tribal police officer, but their department's resources are too limited to conduct any kind of thorough investigation, especially if, as it seems, the circumstances of Tawi's disappearance involved any place or anyone outside the borders of the reservation. Local or state police, meanwhile, don't have jurisdiction inside tribal lands, and no matter how many times Jax or JJ call, the FBI won't return those calls.

In a brief amount of time, the filmmakers establish the stakes for these characters—even and particularly the one who's absent from the narrative—and the constant frustrations of trying to work within a system that's supposed to help but won't act. Even Frank, a retired FBI agent, expresses skepticism that a call from him will help when he finally visits his daughter and granddaughter after multiple years.

The real plot here, though, is that road trip, which is prompted after someone from Child Protective Services shows up to check on Roki, returns a day or two later, and, with a court order, forces the teen out of her home to live with her grandparents. There's a terrible irony in the speed with which this system reacts, and Jax knows it.

She also knows that Roki will be able to return home if the girl's mother is found, so she starts looking into her sister's disappearance. When Jax realizes she'll have to leave the reservation to continue her sleuthing, she decides to take Roki from Frank's house in the night so the two can also attend the upcoming powwow.

In other words, the scope of the plot here widens, as Jax and Roki travel from place to place looking for clues and making their way to the powwow, but in the process, the complications become less specific. The choice to take Roki from her grandparents makes Jax an outlaw, as the FBI finally steps in to do some work involving the family—although it's entirely aimed at finding and detaining Jax in order to return Roki to Frank and Nancy. When the two realize they're being tracked by law enforcement (although neither admits to the other that she knows this information), the crux of the story becomes about navigating a life on the lam, with a couple of close calls and a random pistol that will inevitably make things worse.

To be fair, the story is also about the aunt and niece bonding under and because of the strain, and that relationship is portrayed with moments of real tenderness between Gladstone, who's also quite good as the determined and cynical Jax, and Deory-Olson. It's not enough, though, to cut through the formulaic plotting Fancy Dance ultimately depends upon, and when the central mystery is finally answered (after a cheap fake-out), we're left wondering why such a tragedy seems like such a low priority to the movie.

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