Identity, heritage drive drama in upcoming film screenings

OKLAHOMA CITY — There aren’t many topics or themes in film more richly primed for drama than the search for identity in the face of longstanding legacy or cultural heritage.

This is true of everything from the greatest classics like “The Godfather” and “Gone with the Wind” to quiet, recent standouts like “Minari” and “Past Lives.”

The deeply human struggle to figure out how we all fit into the larger puzzles of history, heritage, family, and community is surely one of the most universal experiences in life, making it possible for stories to resonate across cultural divisions and even across time.

Over the coming weeks, theaters throughout Oklahoma City will be presenting a number of films that each explore these questions and struggles with their own perspectives and approaches, from the smallest, most intimate family stories to the most sprawling and epic historical yarns.

‘Fancy Dance’ – Rodeo Cinema Stockyards – June 21st through June 28th 

One of the most talked about Oklahoma-connected films of the past few years – and the big winner of Best Narrative Feature at the 2023 deadCenter Film Festival – coming-of-age road-trip drama “Fancy Dance” has finally secured distribution and is on the eve of nationwide streaming.

But before it goes live on Apple TV, “Fancy Dance” is making a short run through indies and art houses nationwide, giving audiences another chance to catch this powerful offering from deadCenter ICON Erica Tremblay.

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“Fancy Dance”

The remarkable Lily Gladstone (Oscar nominee for “Killers of the Flower Moon”) stars in this raw, vulnerable story of a woman caring for her niece in the wake of her sister’s disappearance and the spontaneous road trip they embark upon toward a national powwow in Oklahoma City.

It’s a story as much about learning how to fit into family as it is about culture, history, and modern Indigenous life in America.

But more than anything, it’s an honest story about the bond between two women, and that alone is something we need more of in modern cinema.

For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit rodeocinema.org.

‘The Bikeriders’ – Everywhere – June 21st 

Not every family is bound by blood. Sometimes the strongest familial bonds that we can form are the ones with our surrogate families that take us in and give us a home, no matter how unconventional or misunderstood.

That’s the opening basis of director Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” a look at the tight-knit and increasingly violent motorcycle club culture of 1960s America.

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The Bikeriders (2023), Photo by Kyle Kaplan:Focus Features

Based on the legendary photo book by Danny Lyon, “The Bikeriders” spans a decade in the life and development of a Chicago motorcycle club as it begins to gradually and concerningly morph into a dangerous, criminal “biker gang.”

Starring the buzzy Austin Butler and Jodie Comer alongside the infinitely watchable Tom Hardy (doing another of his left-field, weirdly compelling accents,) we’re along for the ride as the club’s old guard struggles to retain the culture and principle of the family and community they’d created.

It’s set to be a unique and effective look at how the battle for heritage and legacy can extend even into the families that we create ourselves, all told by one of the grittiest and most varied filmmakers working today.

‘Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara’ – Oklahoma City Museum of Art – June 28th & June 29th 

Based on one of the most scandalous and controversial cases of the late 1800s, acclaimed director Marco Bellocchio’s “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” tackles the true story of a young Jewish boy taken from his family by the Catholic Church and the Pope himself.

Young Edgardo Mortara was born to a Jewish family in Bologna in 1857. Upon falling ill as a newborn, the baby was allegedly baptized in total secrecy by family’s teenage Catholic servant, who was convinced the child would die.

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“Kidnapped – The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara”

When he recovered and continued to grow into childhood, however, rumors spread of a Jewish boy secretly baptized. Accordinng to papal law at the time, that made the boy legally a Catholic, resulting in the Church itself kidnapping young Edgardo and raising him in the Vatican’s care.

An international scandal, outrage, and protracted press circus followed, all as Rome barreled through history toward its eventual absorption into Italy.

But at the center of the story, there was always a young boy pulled across two worlds, struggling with unanswerable questions of what to believe and where to belong, with the full weight of heritage, culture, and belief all bearing down on him.

It’s a harrowing and shocking true-life take cast in stark, dramatic relief in this Cannes Film Festival breakout.

For showtimes, tickets, and more, visit okcmoa.com.

‘Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1’ – Everywhere – June 28th 

In what stands to be one of the most sprawling, massive vanity projects in cinema history, Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga” is set to spread across four full three-hour films, beginning here with “Chapter 1.”

Chronicling the families, feuds, national struggles, and generational dramas that brought the Old West to a close and birthed the Twentieth Century in the shadow of the Civil War, Costner’s multi-part epic is clearly angling to be the most definitive and all-encompassing western in cinema history.

Can he pull it off? Well, that remains to be seen.

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Kevin Costner in “Horizon – An American Saga – Chapter 1”

Early reviews applaud the direction, acting, cinematography, and even the project’s mammoth scale itself, but warn that – unsurprisingly for the first part of four – it’s essentially all buildup and introduction with no real resolution or clear aim.

Still, it’ll be undeniably interesting to see how (and if) the entire project plays out, as the scope and scale feel perfectly suited to exploring the full sweep and grandeur of the Old West and its inherent questions of heritage and American identity.

While there’s bound to be a strong through line of family struggle and personal strife, “Horizon: An American Saga” is surely more of an attempt to grapple with the same culture clash and identity crisis issues from a national level, observing how America itself come of age.

Overblown? Maybe, but if Costner actually pulls it off, this could very well be his own legacy and his own attempt at casting himself into history.


Catch Brett Fieldcamp’s film column weekly for information and insights into the world of film in the Oklahoma City metro and Oklahoma. | Brought to you by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.


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Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.