Chloé Zhao’s second film as a writer-director is a contemporary western about a young rodeo rider, Brady Jandreau, who was kicked in the head by a horse. He knows that if he returns to the rodeo, he is risking his life – his best friend’s brain damage is even more severe – but he can’t imagine what else to do. This humane account of his slow recuperation has fascinating things to say about macho peer pressure, Wild West iconography, and people with wide open spaces all around them, but nowhere to go. But what is truly awe-inspiring is the way Zhao stitches together fact and fiction. Make no mistake, The Rider is a well-honed drama, but it derives its power from being based on Jandreau’s own experiences, and most of the people in it are playing versions of themselves. Rarely, if ever, have documentary realism and poetic grandeur been combined so deftly or to such desperately moving effect. (Credit: Highwayman Films)