Jazzy looks at girlhood, best friends, and growing up in a different way. We see the girls from age seven up to about 13 in the film. They are both Lakota tribal members living in a trailer park in a small town in North Dakota.
Jazzy is shot from the child’s perspective. The adults are voices in the background or are headless figures like in a Charlie Brown comic. Jazzy (Jasmine Shangreaux) and Syriah (Syriah Fool Head Means) are the two girls. They basically play themselves and were allowed some input on the story and the script.
We see the girls bond in their childish way. They run, play, talk about stuffed toys, ride the school bus, share silly games and stay besties all through elementary school. It’s a joyful exploration of childhood.
Jazzy’s family seldom visits the Pine Ridge Reservation, but Syriah goes to visit her grandmother on the rez regularly. She’s attempting to learn the Lakota language.
Then in 6th grade, Syriah suddenly pulls away. She won’t look at or talk to Jazzy. Jazzy is hurt and heartbroken. She takes drastic measures to get Syriah to talk to her again and learns that they are going to be separated because Syriah’s family is moving back to the reservation.
Although Jazzy turns to their other friends after Syriah leaves, she desperately misses Syriah.
When one of their shared distant relatives dies, Jazzy and her family go to the reservation for the funeral. There Jazzy reunites with her favorite Aunt Tana (Lily Gladstone) and sees Syriah again.
The adults become real people at the traditional Lakota funeral. We see their faces and hear them talk. At the meal after the ceremony, Jazzy and Syriah steal a big pile of fry bread and run off with it into the hills where they are able to talk and share their feelings.
So much of the film was sensory. Flowers, trees, water, soft pets to stroke, stuffed toys to hug and tell secrets to. The music was compelling and seemed different from the usual movie score.
The film was directed by Morrisa Maltz. The producers included Lily Gladstone, the Duplass brothers, Mel Eslyn and others. Morrisa Maltz made another film with Lily Gladstone called The Unknown Country, in which Lily Gladstone played the same character – Tana – that we see in this film. I haven’t seen it but now I want to. Several other characters from The Unknown Country are also in Jazzy. I’ll be watching it out of order if I do see it, because Jazzy is the sequel to the first film.
Jazzy is streaming on Hulu or can be rented from Prime Video.