Billy Luther’s 2023 Netflix film, Frybread Face and Me, chronicled the story of two cousins, Benny (Keir Tallman) and Fry (Charley Hogan), who were sent to their grandmother’s (Sarah H. Natani) house over on the Navajo Reservation. Benny didn’t take the news well, as he was planning to go to a Fleetwood Mac concert. He had been saving up for it for months as well. However, his parents were in no mood to listen to Benny’s rant and made it very clear that he was going to spend his summer at his grandmother’s house. Even though Benny hated it, he had no choice but to agree. With tears in his eyes, Benny took a bus to California, from where his aunt Lucy dropped him off on his grandma’s ranch.
Lucy was Benny’s mother’s youngest sister, who dropped out of school to sell custom-made pieces of jewelry.
Lucy was Benny’s mother’s youngest sister, who dropped out of school to sell custom-made pieces of jewelry.
- 11/28/2023
- by Rishabh Shandilya
- Film Fugitives
Benny (Keir Tallman) is a city kid: a proud San Diego resident who loves action figures and Fleetwood Mac, and who can speak with nonchalant ease about the benefits of an annual pass to Sea World. So when his parents — including his beloved mother (Owee Rae), the very same person who encourages his Fleetwood Mac-based dancing and soap opera-esque action figure playing! — decide to send Benny to his grandmother’s house on an out-of-state Navajo reservation for the summer, he’s rightly put out. And when he finally arrives at the local bus depot, the plucky 11-year-old turns right back around and tries to zoom promptly back to San Diego.
But, as becomes a constant theme throughout Billy Luther’s winning first narrative feature “Frybread Face and Me,” Benny’s family is there to catch him, whether he likes it or not. Set in 1990, and smacking of period details that never feel over the top,...
But, as becomes a constant theme throughout Billy Luther’s winning first narrative feature “Frybread Face and Me,” Benny’s family is there to catch him, whether he likes it or not. Set in 1990, and smacking of period details that never feel over the top,...
- 11/23/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Excited for his parents’ promise to take him to Fleetwood Mac in San Diego, Benny (Keir Tallman) can’t help feeling betrayed when his father announces he’ll be spending the summer at his grandmother’s (Sarah H. Natani) home on the Navajo reservation in Arizona instead. It’s been years since his mother (Morningstar Angeline) last took him to visit, and he wishes it could have been longer. Benny is an ’80s city kid. He listens to rock music, uses his action figures to reenact soap opera drama, and dances in his mother’s cowboy hat. Herding sheep and building fences doesn’t interest him––especially since he doesn’t know Navajo and Grandma refuses to learn English.
We’ve all experienced a summer where plans change sans notice or explanation. At that age we just had to scowl and accept our fate––there were no money or means to escape it.
We’ve all experienced a summer where plans change sans notice or explanation. At that age we just had to scowl and accept our fate––there were no money or means to escape it.
- 9/15/2023
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
In Billy Luther’s feature film debut, “Frybread Face and Me,” Benny (Keir Tallman) is taken out of his comfort zone after he’s sent to spend the summer at his grandmother’s ranch on the reservation. It’s a feeling most adults can relate to — that first time when they were kids and sent away for the summer, whether it was to camp or to spend time with a family member. The film premieres in Toronto on Sept. 11.
Producer Chad Burris was drawn to Luther’s story because it was discussing something he hadn’t seen before, aside from the script being insightful and emotional, Burris says the characters were fun, punchy and humorous. “What I thought was interesting was how the story of Benny was juxtaposed with Native life, and I thought it was so fresh. It had a casual approach to what it was saying,” says Burris.
Producer Chad Burris was drawn to Luther’s story because it was discussing something he hadn’t seen before, aside from the script being insightful and emotional, Burris says the characters were fun, punchy and humorous. “What I thought was interesting was how the story of Benny was juxtaposed with Native life, and I thought it was so fresh. It had a casual approach to what it was saying,” says Burris.
- 9/9/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Frybread Face and Me unfolds over one of those strange seasons of youth, in which not much technically happens but everything feels changed afterward, in some small but significant way. Plot-wise, it’s slim: Benny (Keir Tallman) is an 11-year-old from San Diego who’s sent to stay with his grandmother (Sarah H. Natani) on the Navajo reservation for the summer, where he meets and befriends his cousin Dawn, a.k.a. Frybread Face (Charley Hodges). The pair while away the months doing what kids do — playing with dolls, watching Starman on repeat and snooping through their uncle’s stuff in between chores on the family’s sheep ranch — until all of a sudden, it’s time for Benny to return home.
But what Frybread Face and Me lacks in drama, it makes up for in a boundless affection for its characters and an appreciation for the everyday details of their lives.
But what Frybread Face and Me lacks in drama, it makes up for in a boundless affection for its characters and an appreciation for the everyday details of their lives.
- 3/12/2023
- by Angie Han
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Fresh off completing shooting in New Mexico, the Taika Waititi executive produced feature Frybread Face and Me now has some heavy hitters on board to see the Billy Luther-directed film over the finish line.
Charles D King’s Macro, along with River Road and Rei Co-op Studios, have teamed with Chad Burris’ Indion Entertainment to finance the Indigenous coming-of-age tale.
“We cannot measure our gratitude for the support and encouragement the film has received from our partners,” Burris told Deadline. “Equally immeasurable is the value these dynamic partners bring collectively through their commitment to uplifting underrepresented voices and perspectives. Their shared enthusiasm is apparent in the projects they choose to champion and the reason they are great partners for this film.”
Waititi and Luther, who also penned the film, will serve as EPs along with Macro’s King, Poppy Hanks and Greta Talia Fuentes as well as Rei...
Charles D King’s Macro, along with River Road and Rei Co-op Studios, have teamed with Chad Burris’ Indion Entertainment to finance the Indigenous coming-of-age tale.
“We cannot measure our gratitude for the support and encouragement the film has received from our partners,” Burris told Deadline. “Equally immeasurable is the value these dynamic partners bring collectively through their commitment to uplifting underrepresented voices and perspectives. Their shared enthusiasm is apparent in the projects they choose to champion and the reason they are great partners for this film.”
Waititi and Luther, who also penned the film, will serve as EPs along with Macro’s King, Poppy Hanks and Greta Talia Fuentes as well as Rei...
- 9/21/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
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