Idaho Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ”Twas the Fight Before Christmas,’ starring Jeremy Morris, Kristy Morris, Jennifer Scott, Jeremy Scott, Ron Taylor, Dex Morris and Pam Morris

December 25, 2022

by Carla Hay

Jeremy Morris in “‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas” (Photo courtesy of Apple TV+)

Directed by Becky Read

Culture Representation: Taking place from 2014 to 2021, mostly in Hayden, Idaho’s West Hayden Estates, the documentary film “’Twas the Fight Before Christmas” features an all-white group of people representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: Controversial attorney Jeremy Morris wages a long war with a homeowner association over his annual Christmas event that he wants to have on his front lawn, with Morris claiming that he is being discriminated against because he is Christian.

Culture Audience: “’Twas the Fight Before Christmas” will appeal primarily to people interested in watching documentaries about neighbor disputes and legal issues related to how far people will go to make their private home into a tourist attraction.

A photo of Jeremy Morris’ house in Hayden, Idaho’s West Hayden Estates in “‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas” (Photo courtesy of Apple TV+)

Every year, there’s usually someone who makes the local news for having a house with extravagant Christmas displays that attract crowds of people who live near and far away. Sometimes, you hear about disputes because of the way the property is decorated and because the crowds bring unwanted noise and traffic to a residential neighborhood. And sometimes, as shown in “‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas” (directed by Becky Read), the conflicts become so large, they result in lawsuits that make international news. The debate over individual rights versus community standards is shown in this fascinating documentary about how one man’s determination to have a public Christmas celebration in his front yard turned into an epic legal battle with a homeowner association.

At the forefront of the controversy is Jeremy Morris, the attorney who’s the plaintiff of the 2017 lawsuit that started this years-long legal conflict. After he moved to West Hayden Estates in Hayden, Idaho, in 2015, Morris became locked in bitter disputes with the West Hayden Estates Homeowners Association over his annual Christmas-season event that he wanted to have on this front lawn. In addition to having thousands of lights on his property and numerous Christmas displays that you might find in an amusement park, the event included a large group of carolers, a live camel, and Morris hiring buses to bring people to the event.

In the beginning of the documentary, Morris brags that at his first mega-Christmas event in 2014, he had a 35-person choir, a live camel, and numerous displays and lights—all of which he says attracted a total of 5,000 people over several days. He is also quick to mention that this Christmas spectacle was a charity event to raise money for cancer research. However, Morris never says in the documentary how much money was actually donated to this cause as a result of the fundraising.

On December 26, 2014, Jeremy says that he and his wife Kristy (who is also interviewed in the documentary) wanted the next year’s event to be bigger and better. And so, they decided to move to a bigger house and started looking that same day. Jeremy and Kristy say in the documentary that when they found the house in West Hayden Estates, they knew immediately that it would be perfect for them. In addition to having a long driveway (which is more conducive for constant traffic), the house was near the city limits, which Jeremy says he knew would work to his advantage if there were any disputes over permits.

Before buying the house, Jeremy and Kristy say they knew the house was part of a homeowner association (HOA) with covenants, conditions and restrictions (CCRs) that they received in writing before completing the purchase. However, Jeremy freely admits that from the beginning, he felt that that he didn’t need to ask permission from the West Hayden Estates HOA for his event. He says he moved into the neighborhood with the attitude that the event was going to happen, whether people liked it or not.

The beginning of “‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas” establishes that Jeremy is someone who sees himself as being on a mission to have any type of Christmas celebration that he chooses on his property because it’s an expression of his Christian beliefs. He says he’s been passionate about Christmas displays and decorations, ever since he was taught to hang Christmas lights at the age of 4 years old. The documentary’s opening scene shows him rifling through his garage to show some of his favorite Christmas decorations, including a robot given to him by his grandfather Jake (a former actor in silent films), which Jeremy says is the last thing that he has to remember his deceased grandfather.

Jeremy boasts that some people call him nicknames, such as Clark Griswold (the patriarch character played by Chevy Chase in the “National Lampoon” movies), the Christmas Lawyer or Mr. Christmas. He also says that several people advised him against participating in this documentary because they said the documentary would make him look “crazy.” He comments that he didn’t listen to that advice because people already think he’s “crazy”—and he says he likes that perception, because people will think he’s unpredictable.

Throughout the documentary, Jeremy makes extreme statements about how much Christmas means to him. “I love Christmas more than life itself,” he says in one scene. He also states in another scene: “I wanted to be the guy who saved Christmas.” In another scene, he says of his annual Christmas extravaganza: “I realized this is my ministry.” And later, he states with absolutely no irony or sarcasm: “This is not an event. This is a miracle. You don’t get permits for miracles.”

“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” does a very good job of telling both sides of this nasty war between neighbors. Among the neighbors who speak out against Jeremy Morris are spouses Jennifer Scott and Jeremy Scott; Ron Taylor, a retired law-enforcement agent; and neighbors whose last names are not revealed in the documentary but who are identified by their first names: Kim, Jennifer, Julie and Jim. These West Hayden Estates residents use words such as “peaceful,” “quiet” and “friendly” to describe their neighbhorhood.

Chris and Larry Strayer, the spouses who sold their house to Jeremy and Kristy Morris, are also interviewed and describe Jeremy Morris as “very odd” and someone who asked them a lot of unusual questions about house measurements and crowd capacities before he bought the house. Peter J. Smith, an attorney for West Hayden Estates HOA, also gives his comments in the documentary.

Jennifer Scott was president of the West Hayden Estates HOA in 2014 and in 2015. She says she experienced unrelenting harassment and bullying from Jeremy Morris, who has made the same accusations about her and some other residents of West Hayden Estates. Jennifer Scott describes communication with Jeremy Morris where he repeatedly intimidated her in phone conversations, email and text messages, to the point where she had trouble sleeping and dreaded hearing from him.

Her husband Jeremy Scott (a pastor) had to intervene during one particularly hostile phone argument between his wife and Jeremy Morris, which resulted in Jeremy Scott ordering Jeremy Morris never to contact Jennifer Scott again. She resigned as president of the West Hayden Estates HOA shortly after that incident. It was later made public during the lawsuits that Jeremy Morris had recorded conversations with people involved in the disputes without their knowledge or permission. These secret recordings were legal in Idaho.

Taylor, who was vice-president of the West Hayden Estates HOA during the early years of the dispute, describes an unfinished West Hayden Estates HOA letter that was accidentally sent to Jeremy Morris in 2015, before the letter was completed and approved by the West Hayden Estates HOA. In the letter, the West Hayden Estates HOA said that Jeremy Morris’ planned Christmas extravaganza was against the written CCRs. The West Hayden Estates HOA also threated to sue him if he didn’t cancel the event. Meanwhile, several of the West Hayden Estates residents interviewed in the documentary say that Jeremy Morris was always the one who threatened legal action first, and he loved to brag about being an attorney.

But here is the crux of Jeremy Morris’ legal arguments: The letter expressed concerns about Jeremy Morris’ Christmas event being offensive to people who are non-Christians. Everyone, including Jeremy Morris, seems to agree that this letter aggravated him immensely. He perceived it to be discriminatory to his Christian beliefs and what he feels is his right to celebrate Christmas in the way that he wants on his property. Meanwhile, the West Hayden Estates residents involved in the dispute say that being against the event is not a religious issue but an issue of neighborhood safety.

Jeremy Morris describes how he fought back: “I got a thermonuclear weapon and blew it up in their face—and I call it international media.” He went to the media with the story that the West Hayden Estates HOA was declaring war on Christmas. Outlets such as Fox News and CNN did multiple news reports.

In the documentary, some of the West Hayden Estates residents who are interviewed express disgust that Jeremy Morris, in his media interviews and elsewhere, misrepresented most of the residents as atheists or non-Christians who hate Christians and Christmas. Jennifer and Jeremy Scott say that in reality, most of the West Hayden Estates residents are Christians who have religious tolerance and love Christmas. Shawn Vestal, a columnist for the Spokesman-Review, covered the dispute and says of Jeremy Morris’ media tactics: “The ‘war on Christmas’ was kind of a hoax, really.”

Jeremy Morris had his Christmas extravaganza in 2015 and 2016, but the conflicts and paranoia got so bad that accusations of death threats flew back and forth between both sides. Jeremy Morris says he had to get a gun for protection. At the time, Jeremy and Kristy Morris had one child (a daughter), and Kristy says that she was so fearful for her safety, she temporarily had to leave with their daughter to stay with Kristy’s mother in Virginia.

If people were videotaping other people at the event, the people making the videos could be accused of harassment. The Three Percenters, a right-wing group, offered to do volunteer security at Jeremy Morris’ Christmas event in 2015, and he eagerly accepted. Jeremy Morris says in the documentary that he also hired former cops and off-duty cops with guns for additional security. A police officer identified only in the documentary as Deputy Broesch says that people were questioned over these death threat accusations, but nothing happened from these alleged threats, and the matter was dropped.

As the documentary eventually reveals, Jeremy Morris isn’t just motivated by wanting to “save Christmas.” He talks about having an unwavering sense of right and wrong and standing up to bullying. He says it stems from his childhood, when he used to be bullied for being “different.” (The movie has a brief flash of a childhood yearbook photo of Jeremy when he was a student at Grace Community School in Sun Valley, California.)

Jeremy comments, “Being an attorney is a way of combating bullying of the type that you experience when you’re older. Being an attorney is a way to gain power.” But is this a situation where someone who used to be bullied becomes a bully? Kristy Morris admits about her husband’s drive to prove that he is right: “He doesn’t know when to stop.”

The other people interviewed in the documentary who are on Jeremy Morris’ side include his parents Dex and Pam Morris, who both confirm that Jeremy Morris has had a Christmas obsession since he was a child. Pam says of her son: “Jeremy’s got a good heart. He wants people to have joy. And that’s why he has this Christmas event.”

Jeremy Morris’ other supporters who are interviewed in the documentary include a man called Don (no last name given), who says he firmly believes that the governement should have as little interference as possible in people’s lives. Don thinks that the West Hayden Estates HOA has an oppressive mentality and is ruled by “badge-heavy people”—in other words, people who throw their authoritative weight around just because they have certain titles. The other people in the documentary who speak in support of Jeremy Morris are two individuals who were hired for his Christmas extravaganza in 2015: a bus driver named Blaine (no last name given) and an unnamed man who dressed as Santa Claus for the event.

“‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas” has some scenes where Jeremy Morris is shown at home with Kristy and their three kids. In these scenes, it looks like a concerted effort is made to portray them as an “ideal” American family with traditional Christian values. However, there are times when the cracks in the marriage begin to show, such as when Kristy breaks down and cries over how this legal war is draining their finances and how the neighbors she thought would be her friends have turned into enemies. And despite the smiles that are frequently plastered on these two spouses’ faces, they often don’t look very happy.

Toward the end of the documentary, some of the West Hayden Estates residents are asked why Jeremy Morris is going through all this trouble in this legal war. They speculate that he wants attention and probably has ambitions to become a politician. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from watching “‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas” is that when a legal dispute gets this ugly and vicious, it’s not exactly consistent with the meaning of Christmas, and there are no real winners.

Apple TV+ premiered “‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas” on November 26, 2021.

Review: ‘The Whale’ (2022), starring Brendan Fraser

December 8, 2022

by Carla Hay

Brendan Fraser in “The Whale” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“The Whale” (2022)

Directed by Darren Aronofksy

Culture Representation: Taking place over five days in July 2016, in an unnamed city in Idaho, the dramatic film “The Whale” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with two people of Asian heritage) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A very obese man, who lives as a shut-in and refuses to get hospital treatment for his failing health, spends time trying to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, while he also has tension-filled encounters with his visiting friend/nurse, his ex-wife and a young Christian missionary.

Culture Audience: “The Whale” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Brendan Fraser; director Darren Aronofsky; the Samuel L. Hunter play on which the movie is based; and emotionally intense dramas about society misfits and the need for love, acceptance and forgiveness.

Sadie Sink in “The Whale” (Photo by Niko Tavernise/A24)

“The Whale” has impactful performances that get viewers to react on a visceral level. People will think about what makes them uncomfortable in this story, which takes an emotional journey into the type of life that some people think should be hidden. With only a few exceptions, the scenes in “The Whale” take place inside the dark and depressing two-bedroom apartment of the movie’s protagonist: a very obese shut-in named Charlie (played by Brendan Fraser, in a stunning performance), who knows he is dying but refuses to go to a hospital because he doesn’t have the health insurance to cover any expenses. Aside from his physical issues, what’s really ailing Charlie is that he’s guilt-ridden and heartbroken over what has happened in his life.

Darren Aronofsky directed “The Whale,” which is based on Samuel L. Hunter’s “The Whale” play that was originally staged in 2013. Hunter, whose own life experiences inspired “The Whale,” also wrote the adapted screenplay for “The Whale.” The movie takes place in an unnamed Idaho city, over five days (Monday through Friday) in July 2016. (“The Whale” was actually filmed in Newburgh, New York.) Viewers know that it’s July 2016, because when Charlie briefly turns on his TV, there are live news reports about the 2016 Republican National Convention.

During the movie’s opening credits, a travel bus is seen dropping off a teenage male passenger on a nearly deserted expressway. Charlie will soon meet this stranger under some very stressful circumstances. This stranger becomes briefly involved in Charlie’s life in an unexpected way.

Charlie makes a living as an English teacher of students enrolled in an online course. He currently has 14 students, who all do group video conference calls with him for the class sessions. Because Charlie is self-conscious about his physical appearance, he doesn’t want the students to know what he looks like, so he tells a lie by saying that his computer’s videocamera isn’t working.

Charlie’s assignments for the students consist mostly of writing essays. He has high standards and places a lot of emphasis on his students writing essays that are authentic to who they are as individuals. During a session shown early in the movie, Charlie tells his students, “The point of this course to learn how to write clearly and persuasively. That’s how you effectively communicate your ideas.”

Charlie’s weight is so massive, he has trouble breathing and he usually can’t move while upright unless he’s using a walker or a wheelchair. The details of Charlie’s shut-in life are eventually revealed in conversations, but the gist of it is that he began overeating out of grief because his live-in boyfriend Alan Grant committed suicide. Nine years ago, Charlie left his ex-wife Mary (played by Samantha Morton) to be with Alan, who was a former student of Charlie’s in an adult education class. Alan and Charlie met because of this class.

Charlie and Mary have a rebellious 17-year-old daughter named Ellie (played by Sadie Sink), who is very resentful of Charlie because he’s had no contact with her for the past nine years. Mary has had full custody of Ellie since Charlie left them. Charlie has paid child support, but Mary has refused to let Charlie contact Ellie for all of these years, and he eventually gave up. Charlie only hears about Ellie when he calls Mary about once a month to check in with Mary and ask how Ellie is doing. Mary has now become a bitter alcoholic, and it’s implied that she’s also addicted to Xanax.

Charlie’s existence is very lonely. His one true friend is a nurse named Liz (played by Hong Chau), who also happens to be the adopted sister of Alan. Liz and Alan grew up in a conservative Christian household, and their father is a high-ranking leader of a church called New Life. The church isn’t exactly a full-blown cult, but it’s very controlling and judgmental about how the church members (and non-members) lead their lives.

New Life also has missionaries who try to get people to join the church. Needless to say, New Life condemns any sexuality that isn’t heterosexual. Liz and Charlie want nothing to do with the church, because they think that the church, especially Alan’s father, caused a lot of emotional damage to Alan, who had a history of depression. In case it isn’t clear enough, Liz says early on the movie, “I fucking hate New Life.”

The only other person who’s in regular contact with Charlie is a pizza delivery guy named Dan (played by Sathya Sridharan), who has to leave the pizza and pick up Charlie’s payment outside Charlie’s front door, because Charlie doesn’t want Dan to know what Charlie looks like. It’s a painful reminder to Charlie of how low his self-esteem has gotten that he’s ashamed to interact with strangers on a face-to-face basis. Dan delivers pizza to the Charlie’s apartment several times during the movie.

In one of the first scenes in “The Whale,” Charlie is home alone and masturbating while watching gay porn on his laptop computer. (There’s no nudity in this movie.) He suddenly starts wheezing and calls out for help. A young man who happened to be outside Charlie’s apartment suddenly bursts in the unlocked door, because he heard Charlie’s cries of distress. The young man, who’s in his late teens, is named Thomas (played by Ty Simpkins), and he’s the same guy who was dropped off by the travel bus.

Thomas says he’ll call for an ambulance, but Charlie orders him not to do that, because Charlie insists that he doesn’t need to go to a hospital and because he has a nurse friend who can come over to help. Until Liz can get there, Charlie has a very unusual request: He hands Thomas a written essay about Herman Melville’s 1851 novel “Moby Dick” and tells Thomas to read the essay to him. Hearing the essay seems to calm Charlie down considerably.

Charlie calls Liz, who comes over to give Charlie the medical attention that she can give to him. His blood pressure reading is an alarming 238/134. She tells Charlie in no uncertain terms that if he doesn’t go to a hospital for help, he will die. Charlie still refuses hospital treatment and says he doesn’t want to be in debt over hospital bills. Liz quips, “It’s better to be in debt than dead.”

After Liz arrives, Thomas introduces himself as a missionary from New Church. As soon as Liz hears that information, she’s immediately hostile and mistrustful of Thomas. She lets him know how she disliked being in the New Church community as a child. Liz also tells Thomas that there’s no point in trying to convert Charlie either. Thomas listens to Liz’s rant, but he still thinks he can somehow “save” an obviously troubled Charlie through religious counseling.

Liz, Thomas, Mary and Ellie visit Charlie over the course of the movie in several emotionally charged scenes. Ellie shows up suddenly at the apartment one day to demand that Charlie write an essay for her. He’s surprised to hear that she’s flunking out of school, and Ellie tells him that needs a good grade on this essay, or else she’ll be expelled. Mary, who shows up later to look for Ellie, is in a simmering rage because she doesn’t want Ellie to be in contact with Charlie.

During the course of the story, secrets are revealed, tensions run high, and Charlie tries to make up for lost time with Ellie. She doesn’t make it easy for Charlie, because she berates and insults him for a great deal of their time together. Mary’s relationship with Ellie has deteriorated to the point that Mary tells Charlie that she thinks Ellie is “evil.” Not only is Ellie a troublemaker at school, but she’s also a cyberbully who cruelly taunts and harasses people online if she decides that she doesn’t like them.

Even in his dismal state, Charlie is an optimist who wants to see the good in people, and he refuses to believe that Ellie is a bad person. He thinks Ellie is lashing out because of the emotional damage that was caused when he left Ellie and Mary. As Charlie also says in the movie, he desperately wants to believe that Ellie is the one thing in his life that he got right.

Charlie repeatedly compliments Ellie in an attempt to make her (and himself) feel better, but Ellie usually reacts with more anger and resentment. How much longer does Charlie has to live? All he knows is that he doesn’t want to die without making peace with Ellie.

“The Whale” had its world premiere at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, and then made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2022, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. It’s the type of movie that will have the most appeal to people who don’t mind watching films that essentially take place in one location. In this case, the location is an apartment that the cast members succeed in making seem like a claustrophobic, ticking time bomb of emotions that’s ready to explode at any moment.

Fraser gives a heart-wrenching performance as someone on the verge of dying who is engulfed in regret, guilt and shame about how his life turned out, but who’s desperately seeking love and forgiveness from the daughter he abandoned. Fraser’s use of his eyes and facial expressions are a master class in expressing this despair of isolation, as well as the frustration of someone whose physical size often renders him immobile. (For Charlie’s body, Fraser wore prosthetics from his neck down.)

Morton and Sink also give striking performances as embittered Mary and Ellie, who don’t like each other very much, probably because they’re so similar to each other, and their worst qualities remind them of what they don’t like about themselves. The cracks in the hard emotional shells of Mary and Ellie sometimes show, with Ellie having some indications (no matter how hostile they are) that she still wants Charlie’s love. Mary also has a moment in the movie where she expresses her vulnerability with Charlie.

Chau’s performance as Jenny is an admirably nuanced balancing act that shows Jenny’s frustration and confusion over how to be a nurse and a friend to Charlie. Jenny gives medical attention to Charlie, scolds him about not taking care of himself, and even saves him from choking on a hoagie. But she’s also someone who buys junk food for Charlie because she knows that’s what makes him superficially happy, even though she knows that giving him fattening food is a medically irresponsible thing to do.

Simpkins does well in his role, but Thomas is a stranger to Charlie. The women in Charlie’s life mean much more to Charlie and to this story. And the movie doesn’t gloss over how much food means to Charlie. He feeds his food addiction as if food can fill up the emptiness that he feels within himself. There are a few food-binging scenes when Charlie is alone that will make some viewers squirm in discomfort.

If there’s one main criticism that some people might have about “The Whale,” it’s that the movie at times seems to be trying too hard to wring emotions out of the audience. There are moments that come across as a “play to the back of the room” vibe of a stage production, where theater actors tend to go very big with their dramatic deliveries of the dialogue. Rob Simonsen’s musical score for “The Whale” is the very definition of tearjerker music. It’s perfectly effective, but some viewers might not like how everything is staged in the movie.

Some viewers will also be turned off by how the story is confined to one apartment where people argue and are sometimes awful to each other. But that’s the whole point: Charlie is “stuck” in more ways than one. And “The Whale,” like it or not, makes viewers feel what Charlie is feeling in this very confined space where he’s “stuck” and has to confront some very ugly and raw emotions. The movie also asks viewers to think about people like Charlie who are “stuck” and hide themselves away from a world that they think doesn’t want them anymore.

Many people could assume that the title of “The Whale” has to do with being a derogatory term about Charlie’s appearance. But the beauty of this story, which the filmmakers and cast members express so wonderfully, is that the title of “The Whale” is really about Charlie’s connection to that “Moby Dick” essay. It’s a connection about honesty and compassion that transcends anyone’s physical appearance.

A24 will release “The Whale” in select U.S. cinemas on December 9, 2022.

Review: ‘Bitterbrush,’ starring Colie Moline and Hollyn Patterson

August 16, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Bitterbrush”

Directed by Emelie Mahdavian

Culture Representation: Taking place in Idaho and briefly in Montana, the documentary film “Bitterbrush” features an all-white group of people representing the working-class.

Culture Clash: Two women, who are best friends and range riders, deal with harsh weather conditions and unstable job opportunities in their line of work.

Culture Audience: “Bitterbrush” will appeal primarily to people interested in movies about rancher lifestyles and women who work in male-dominated professions.

Hollyn Patterson and Colie Moline and in “Bitterbrush” (Photo by Alejandro Mejia/Magnolia Pictures)

Filmed with earnest simplicity, “Bitterbrush” is an up-close portrait of two female range riders working in rural Idaho. People who appreciate rancher documentaries and stunning, mountainous cinematography might be interested. Everyone else might be bored.

That’s because “Bitterbrush” (directed by Emelie Mahdavian) is not a movie filled with a lot of drama or major surprises. There is one surprise in the movie, but it’s not shocking. This cinéma vérité-styled documentary focuses on two women in their 20s—Colie Moline and Hollyn Patterson—who are best friends and range riders. They take work when and where they can find it, which means that any job they do isn’t permanent, and they often have to travel for their next job.

It goes without saying that men are the majority of workers who do outdoor jobs that involve a lot of traveling, dealing with harsh weather, and living in isolated areas. Female range riders are rare. “Bitterbrush” lacks suspense but gives an unflinching look at what it takes to be range rider, albeit from the perspectives of two people who have the benefit of working closely with a best friend. Don’t expect any movie clichés of these two pals arguing with each other and having a falling out, because it doesn’t happen in “Bitterbrush.”

“Bitterbrush” (which shows a year in the life of Moline and Patterson) doesn’t give a lot of information on how long Moline and Patterson have been working together, but they both grew up either on a ranch or a farm. At the time this documentary was filmed, the two women had been friends for five or six years. Almost all of “Bitterbrush” chronicles the seasonal job that Moline and Patterson had in an unnamed mountainous part of Idaho, where they mostly had to herd cattle through the mountains.

Accompanied by their respective dogs (Moline has a dog named Lucy; Patterson has a dog named Rudy Two), the two women are shown herding cattle (sometimes in snowy weather) and training horses. Although they live in complete isolation, Patterson’s husband Elijah is also there and is seen occasionally in the documentary. Because they move from job to job, their lifestyle is truly nomadic.

Patterson talks about how Rudy Two’s mother was a beloved dog that died from illness and old age. Patterson says of the deceased dog: “I thought about burying her, but there’s no home. We’ve never been home anywhere. We’ve always had these riding jobs, where you move places.”

Moline comments, “I love this work. I love this lifestyle. I do believe I have skill sets for it. I don’t want to be working for a house my whole life and just making the bills. I’d like to find something where I do my own thing—or at least say that I have some cows.”

Moline adds, “I’m just trying to figure out the right opportunity and working with people who want to see that for you. That’s not always a thing to do. Or maybe I’ll just be so good at it, I’ll become a millionaire and can buy my own ranch.”

Patterson is the more stoic and even-tempered of the two women. She takes the lead in most of their ranch duties, while Moline is more likely to follow or observe as if she is learning from Patterson. For example, there’s a scene where Patterson and Moline are training a horse. Moline watches Patterson handle the horse before Moline steps in to try what Patterson was showing her. Patterson is more self-assured and patient with the horse, while Moline has a tendency to get more frustrated. When the horse bites Moline, she smacks it lightly.

Patterson’s more guarded personality also extends to how little she says about her background in the documentary. By contrast, Moline opens up about her past, including coping with grief over her mother’s death from a brain aneurysm. Moline says that her mother was on life support for three days before she died.

Moline’s voice cracks with emotion when she remembers, “The good thing that did come out of those three days is I did get to memorize her hands. My mom was always self-conscious about her hands because she worked so dang hard. They were always calloused—similar to mine.”

Moline also talks about the strained relationship she has with her brother and her father. She and her brother Jake don’t really get along with each other. And the main issue she has with her farmer father is that he wants her to come home to work at the family farm. Moline says that small business farmers, such has her father, have hardships because they’re being increasingly priced out of the marketplace by big farming businesses.

One of the standout features of “Bitterbrush” is the cinematography by Derek Howard and Alejandro Mejía, particularly for the outdoor scenes. The documentary doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, but viewers can get swept up in the majestic landscapes that are visually captured for this movie. People who are inclined to enjoy movies that show ranch animals will also find plenty to like in “Bitterbrush.”

However, “Bitterbrush” is not a documentary for everyone. The pacing can be very slow. And the movie is honest in showing how range riding can be unglamorous, repetitious and physically demanding. Still, for anyone who might be curious about what happens to Moline and Patterson by the end of the year that’s documented in this film, it’s enough to say that “Bitterbrush” is worth watching to see how these two friends end up taking different paths in their lives.

Magnolia Pictures released “Bitterbrush” in select U.S. cinemas on June 17, 2022. The movie was released on digital VOD on June 24, 2022.