A Masterful Execution Of Storytelling: ‘Fancy Dance’ Review
Fancy Dance is, in the simplest of terms, a well-made, engaging film. On multiple accounts - primarily regarding its storylines, characters, and performances - the feature is intriguing, engaging, and a well-acted piece of storytelling.
Set in Oklahoma, the film follows Jax Goodiron (Lily Gladstone), who, after the disappearance of her sister Wadatawi (Hauli Gray), has been taking care of her niece, Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson); Wadatawi’s disappearance has become the focus of Jax’s life. While Wadatawi’s disappearance isn’t always the focus of the film, Fancy Dance routinely harkens back to it. In multiple instances, Jax and her brother, JJ (Ryan Begay), uncover new pieces of information regarding Wadatawi’s life that lead them towards solving her disappearance. Each time such happens, there is genuine intrigue and investment, and the film sometimes plays like a mystery.
As the film continues, a second storyline develops that supplies overhanging tension. After a few weeks of Roki being under Jax’s care, the state deems Jax an unfit guardian and forces Roki to stay with her grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham). Roki has wanted to participate in a powwow, as her and her mother had done before; thus, Jax picks up Roki from Frank’s house in the middle of the night without his knowledge. From there, a ticking clock hangs over the two central characters of Fancy Dance after Frank, per the instructions given to him as a guardian, notifies authorities. Another element of the duo’s story that additionally adds tension and elicits engagement is when Roki, unbeknownst to Jax, steals a gun and occasionally contemplates using it when they run into trouble.
The film stirs up emotion in its audience that develops from Jax’s investigation regarding her sister and the relationship between her and Roki. Both actors (Gladstone and Deroy-Olson) give great performances regarding the emotions their characters exhibit. Gladstone sometimes conveys strong emotion with her facial expressions alone, her character’s watery eyes sometimes conveying that she is on the verge of an emotional breakdown without going there. Deroy-Olson shines in a scene between Roki and Jax near the climax of the film, where Roki expresses extreme sadness. All of these moments stand out; in Gladstone’s case, intricacies convey emotion, while in Deroy-Olson’s case, her explicit emotion grabs the audience’s attention.
Other moments that elicit audience heartache are subtler. The relationship between Roki and Jax is established quickly (and it is, again, something that the film’s later emotional moments tie themselves to), and their near-immediate camaraderie makes story beats that work against their relationship difficult to watch. One such moment that stood out, to me, was a dinner scene after Roki begins to live with Frank and his wife, Nancy (Audrey Wasilewski). Frank mentions to Jax that visitation rights will be given to her, but seeing Jax’s earlier guardianship of Roki makes this small line of dialogue feel like a powerful blow. While Fancy Dance’s tension largely comes from the overhanging problems that face Jax and Roki when they are either caught up with or return home, there are other scenes of investment unrelated to tension, where character relationships are what cause the audience to be invested and care.
Fancy Dance is an example of a film that delivers tension, emotion, and well-acted performances, as well as a piece that succeeds at orchestrating audience engagement in its chief storylines; among many other facets, the feature succeeds because of that investment it so expertly elicits.
