Chloé Zhao's cowboy drama 'The Rider' is a moving, lyrical tale of loss and recovery

There are moments in "The Rider," Chloe Zhao's achingly beautiful heartland elegy, when we see Brady Jandreau, a Lakota cowboy in his early 20s, simply doing what he was born to do. (Quite literally: Jandreau was just 15 days old when he sat on his first horse.)

Tenderly and patiently, the camera watches as he trains a horse in a small enclosure, uttering words and performing gestures that have clearly become second nature. He even prays for one of them, caressing its coat and speaking a blessing in Jesus' name.

For most of the people we meet in "The Rider," set on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, God is as real, enveloping and matter-of-fact a presence as