Review of Frybread Face and Me, directed by Billy Luther

Towards the end of 2023, I began realizing that I wanted to amp up the diversity in what kind of movies, television shows, and books I was consuming on a daily basis.

Overall, I think I do a decent job when it comes to the types of movies I watch—if you’re new here to the blog, I write film/television/theatre/book reviews of the things I’ve consumed lately, and I try to almost exclusively watch movies from people in underrepresented backgrounds.

Occasionally I’ll watch a mainstream movie here and there, but in reality I typically avoid that. I’m really interested in the stories I often don’t hear about, so when I saw that Frybread Face and Me had been added to Netflix, I was curious immediately.

The word Frybread caught my eye because I knew immediately this was a indigenous story and tale, having been familiar with the food, and when I read the synopsis, I knew I wanted to watch it.

So on a rainy Wednesday morning, I did end up watching the movie instead of doing any other work. And man, it was worth it in the end. I really enjoyed this movie—I won’t go into detail too soon, but what a lovely film.

Let’s get into the review!

A young boy is sent to the Navajo reservation to spend the summer with his grandmother and family.

Our main character in Frybread Face and Me is Benny, who’s a young boy from San Diego living with his parents, who are divorcing and of Navajo ancestry.

This summer, his mother wants to take him to his grandmother, who lives on the reservation in Arizona, which Benny isn’t too thrilled about to begin with.

She doesn’t exactly live in a place with a lot of things to do for kids, and if she has a television, he doubts that it will have much on it. So when his mother drops him off, he’s not too happy with the situation at hand.

His grandmother also only really speaks Navajo, and Benny doesn’t know the language. His uncle lives on the land as well, but he’s kind of a hothead and Benny doesn’t really like him, especially when he meets his cousin Dawn.

She speaks Navajo and English, is around his age, and carries around her dolls with her wherever she goes. Dawn serves as the translator between him and his grandma, helping facilitate some golden moments.

There’s also little moments when Dawn asks him about his life in California. We can get a sense from the life on the reservation and the characters interaction that some of them have never really managed to lift themselves up socioeconomically, especially considering the state of the grandmother’s house.

She lives off of the land and traditionally, which makes it fine, but by American standards it’s a different world that Benny is entering, which is why he was so reluctant at first.

Some other notable faces that come around include Lucy, the aunt who sells jewelry and seems to appear and disappear like a petal on the wind, and another aunt and uncle with a little baby.

Benny ends up making the kid laugh for the first time, which is a big moment of celebration culturally for them. But it’s with all of these family members that Benny begins to realize the importance of his heritage.

Life on the reservation, as we see, is more connected to the old ways than the new ones. The television only has one option to watch, and their grandmother doesn’t really understand it, but she watches the content on it anyways.

The kids, despite their reluctance, are recruited to fix the fence with the livestock, which they do a terrible job at doing because they’re kids. When Benny’s uncle blows out his back, they have to adopt all of the chores he once did because of a stupid decision to go in the arena with bulls.

At the same time, their grandmother weaves in the traditional Navajo style, which is an art that has become increasingly lost throughout the years. She sells some of the rugs to a local shop for money here and there, and we return to this shop on the way home for Benny, a remnant of his grandmother sold for someone to enjoy as a “piece of Navajo art.”

One thing to note about this movie, though, is that there’s an voiceover of what I presume is an older Benny relaying the details of the scene. I thought this was such a nice touch, as it adds to this sense of the movie being a memory of childhood and the people within it.

Overall Thoughts

This is a movie that dwells in the simple moments, as there isn’t a lot of drama to propel the plot forward in a way one would expect from a traditional film.

That said, this is a coming of age story that works really well. I liked the implementation of the Dine language and culture a lot, and the story contained with the movie feels so real and authentic to me.

I could tell there was a lot of love in this film, and it’s insight into contemporary Native problems, as Benny is kind of a traveler of sorts in the film.

That said, I really enjoyed Frybread Face. I am not Native nor would I ever say I could truly understand their experiences, despite having taken courses on Native American history in graduate school, but I really enjoy consuming these kinds of perspectives whenever possible.

They make me curious to learn more, and be more respectful whenever possible of the sacred lands I’m living on.

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