Monday Night Cinema

War Pony

Gina Gammell and Riley Keough's debut follows the interlocking stories of two Lakota boys growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting), at twenty-three, just wants to make something of himself and is determined to hustle his way to a better life through odd jobs and get-rich-quick schemes. Twelve-year-old Matho (LaDainian Crazy Thunder) is desperate for approval from his young father. A series of impulsive decisions turns Matho's life upside down, and he finds himself unequipped to deal with the harsh realities of the adult world.

War Pony is a tender portrait of two boys' troubled passage into adulthood and a deserving winner of the top prize in the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard.