The disappearance of Wadatawi Goodiron worries few people on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. And even less outside of it.
Faced with the inaction of local and federal authorities, his sister, Jax (Lily Gladstone, nominated for an Oscar for her role in Killers of the Flower Moon), takes matters into her own hands. Tawi, the absentee’s nickname, doesn’t have the best company, which doesn’t stop her sister from asking questions to people who aren’t used to opening up. Jax has experienced this life before. She gave it up, in part. For two weeks, she has been watching full-time over her 13-year-old niece, Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson, seen in the series Three Pines), and to provide for their needs, they turn to petty crime.
Her past comes back to haunt her when a child protection officer takes custody of Roki away from her and gives her to her grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham, always so fair). The latter has been rather absent from his daughters’ lives since the death of their mother. He and his partner open their doors and their hearts to Roki, but she agrees without hesitation to flee in the middle of the night with her aunt to go to the Oklahoma City powwow.
Unable to admit to her – and to admit to himself – that the chances of finding her mother are slim, Jax promises the teenager that she will be at the powwow, where they dance together every year. The festive gathering here represents hope, but also disillusionment. Along the way, Jax, who follows a trail based on few clues, makes a series of bad decisions that put his life and that of his niece in danger.
The chemistry between the two actresses is remarkable. We believe in their experiences, in the trust Roki places in his aunt and in the pressure Jax puts on himself to spare his niece. The natural acting of Lily Gladstone and Isabel Deroy-Olson makes it possible to excuse a scenario that gets carried away in the third act.
Erica Tremblay, who makes her first feature film after a few documentaries and episodes of Reservation Dogs, tackles difficult themes with finesse while filtering enough light to avoid sinking into miserabilism. Without artifice, it maintains good tension which leaves you guessing about the outcome. Fancy Dance, however, is more a story about the difficulties of a community and the general indifference towards it than a breathtaking thriller. Thanks to its artisans, it is above all a human drama.