At the same time Lily Gladstone was working on Killers of the Flower Moon, in her off time she was commuting to the Seneca-Cayuga reservation nearby, shooting Fancy Dance, a decidedly smaller film, though one that she totally owns. She stars as Jax, a native woman whose sister has disappeared leaving behind 13-year-old daughter Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) who she’s taking care of. That is, until her white Dad (Shea Whigham) and his wife send in Child Services and take custody. But the bond between Aunt and niece is strong and she kidnaps Roki, who has convinced herself that she will see her mother again at the upcoming powwow. And Jax doesn’t want to disappoint her.
From the beginning we see Jax and Roki hustling, shoplifting, and generally doing whatever it takes to make ends meet. They have a warm bond. And Jax is also trying to get the powers that be to take her sister’s disappearance seriously. Seems they are more interested in white people’s child custody interests than in one more missing native woman. So after springing her niece from the clutches of her dad, they take to the road in search of her sister, with the law on their tails.
This is writer-director Erica Tremblay’s first feature and she delivers a thoughtful and heart breaking film with a not so subtle message about the ways that indigenous people, especially women, are discounted by the system. The FBI only pays attention when the white people call on them to take the child back, not when Jax’s sister disappears.
The relationship between aunt and niece is the heart of the film and Isabel Deroy-Olson is wonderful as Roki. Lily Gladstone displays her considerable acting skills in a subtle and powerful performance as a native woman trying her best to keep her family together despite the forces outside the res. It is a small, but redemptive story, well worth seeing.
In theaters and on Apple TV+