»Anything that runs wild has got something bad in them. You want to leave some of that in there, because they need it to survive.«
– Johnny

Johnny and his 11-year old sister Jashaun live alone with their mother on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for Native Americans in South Dakota. Johnny has become like a father to Jashaun – a father the two never had, a famous rodeo rider who sired two dozen children. Johnny wants to start a new life in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, saving up for that venture with money from his drug and alcohol deals. But when Jashaun learns of his plans, she is alarmed. And harsh reality thwarts a young man’s dreams of getting out and getting on.

Songs My Brothers Taught Me is not so much a feature film with conventional plot but more a series of vignettes built around the lives of the Lakota. Indeed, Chloé Zhao returned to the reservation and visited the settlements for a period of four years, talking to the residents. In that process, she found her amateur actors. Together, they have made a film that tells impressively of a young generation of Native Americans in the US, of a rugged landscape and of a taciturn way of life. All without any false romanticism.