Frybread Face and Me

4/23/2023

“Frybread Face and Me” is a sweet coming-of-age film that’s imperfect all around. Inspired by writer-director Billy Luther‘s childhood, this deeply personal project has its fair share of stumbles, but it manages to stay above water with a charming Native American cast and a story that amplifies Indigenous voices through cinema. Set in the early 1990s, the film tells the story of eleven-year-old Benny (Keir Tallman), a boy who lives in San Diego with his mom and dad. On the brink of divorce, Benny’s parents put him on a bus to the reservation in Arizona so he can spend the summer with his Grandma Lorraine (Sarah H. Natani), free-spirited Aunt Lucy (Kahara Hodges), tough Uncle Marvin (Martin Sensmeier), and his pudgy tomboy cousin Dawn (Charley Hogan), whom he has never met. Benny’s days