“Fancy Dance” Screening/Q&A at SIFF

Last Wednesday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a screening of the film “Fancy Dance” starring Lily Gladstone. This pleasure was only compounded by the fact that Gladstone was in attendance to accept the inaugural John Hartl Pacific Northwest Spotlight Award from the Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS). For more than three decades, Hartl was the film critic at The Seattle Times, writing thousands of reviews during his tenure. After his passing in 2022, SFCS decided to dedicate the name of this award to him which will be awarded yearly in an attempt to honor “an exceptional body of work, rather than a single performance or movie”.

Those who have followed coverage regarding Gladstone’s performance in last years’ Killers of the Flower Moon are aware that she is rapidly becoming a Hollywood star. Many are predicting that she will receive an Oscar nomination. However, in addition to that high-profile film, Gladstone starred in another film in 2023- one in which very few people have seen. Fancy Dance, directed by Erica Tremblay, premiered at Sundance in January to critical acclaim. In the months since, the film has been shopping around for a distributor with little success. This prompted an article in The Hollywood Reporter from writers Tremblay and Miciana Alise where they discuss the disparity in Hollywood surrounding Indigenous films told from Indigenous perspectives, which they have experienced firsthand. Despite the high praise and attention given to “Flower Moon”, Gladstone stated that this film is the project of which she is proudest in her career thus far.

With her Seattle roots, Gladstone brought Fancy Dance to a Seattle audience at SIFF Cinema Uptown (a theater she frequented growing up.) Also in attendance was Alise and Gladstone’s co-star Isabel Deroy-Olson, who discussed the film following the screening. Most of the discussion revolved around the use of both Native language and dance in the film. The titular “fancy dance” is a reference to a traditional style of Indigenous dancing featuring the use of bright colors and broad movements often performed at powwows. The Native powwow- a grand event featuring music and dancing- is one of the driving forces of the narrative of the film.

In terms of the film itself, it is spectacular. Performances are consistently top-notch and the script allows for much to be conveyed about the characters with little dialogue (something Gladstone pointed out).

Take the opening of the film, for instance: A simple setting on a river. Gladstone and Deroy-Olson minding their own business until they see a man, fishing. Gladstone and Deroy-Olson begin to steal simple fishing materials from this man. In my screening, the first response from the audience was nervous laughter. And then when they steal his truck, the laughter died down. Perhaps it’s because it was then that we realized that these are desperate people, taking desperate measures to survive. No dialogue is needed to convey what we need to know about these characters.

The film forces us to ask tough questions: what would we do if we were in a situation where a family’s disappearance (Gladstone’s sister and Deroy-Olson’s mother) was nobody’s priority? Is it worth it to take matters into our own hands? Fortunately, the film doesn’t offer concrete answers on paper. The ending, as satisfying as it is thematically, is certainly not the conclusion of the overarching narrative we have been following throughout. But, as I said, Gladstone and Deroy-Olson win us over entirely and that is enough.