Andrew Patterson (The Vast Of Night) has co-written (with James Montague) and directed a new American masterwork in The Rivals Of Amziah King. Having world premiered here at SXSW 2025, I’ve shared this raving sentiment with fellow festival goers and come to realize that the film is extremely hard to describe, borderline impossible to pin a genre to, and so richly plotted that I am loathe to share many details for fear of spoiling the experience. I’ll attempt a review anyway, noting that I hold many of the story’s developments to be sacrosanct, and will remain loose on the potentially spoilery elements, of which there are many.
Crime caper? Americana? Heist film? Family drama? Musical? One could make an argument that The Rivals Of Amziah King is all of these things, and more than any one of them. Set in modern day Oklahoma, the film isn’t precious about a particular year it takes place in, evoking past and present simultaneously, intentionally, and effectively. Matthew McConaughey’s Amziah King is a magnetic community leader, honey manufacturing mogul, a widower, a born again Christian, and mean folk musician. He’s got long arms and pulls his friends and family close, offering up his home to those in need, while also driving a hard bargain as a smart if unconventional business man. He’s a bit of a renaissance whirlwind, and while it’s a charismatic character, he might be almost a little bit too much if the story weren’t prepared to burst beyond Amziah’s first act world into a new and uncertain future beyond. But I defy you not to be charmed by the incredible set pieces of folk music captured with love, style, and gorgeous cinematography from M.I. Litten-Menz and editing from Patrick J. Smith. I don’t just drop those names for knowledge’s sake: if you’re anything like me you’ll take note of the stunning photography and editing almost immediately.
But it’s really Angelina LookingGlass as Kateri who serves as our avatar into Amziah’s world, and goes on to be an emergent protagonist to Kurt Russell’s antagonistic rural tycoon. Russell is in many ways the yang to Amziah’s yin. He gets ahead by fear. Sure, he’s involved in the community, feels welcome at the same potlucks as Amziah, and has the community praying for his sick wife. But he’s also got a network of enablers protecting his power as he swallows up surrounding community businesses, and builds an untouchable empire. It’s this dynamic push and pull of American power, influence, and community that elevates Amziah King to the level of prophetic masterwork in my mind.
Amziah was a foster father to Kateri when she was a child, and when she crosses paths with him as a struggling young adult, he simply welcomes her back into his affable world. Among others in Amziah’s employ are several ex-convicts and societal outcasts that might not have had a home or family without Amziah’s off-kilter generosity. And when Russell’s character comes into focus as a direct threat actively attempting to dismantle the good that Amziah has built, it’ll be Kateri, a Native woman who has seen her own share of pain and has learned to be smart and resourceful in her own right, to defend a lost version of the American dream, one that strives for success for me and mine, but not at the gross expense of you and yours.
The Rivals Of Amziah King is folksy. It may glance off of some. But it evokes a kind of modern Mark Twain feeling, not unlike another masterful McConaughey film Mud. There’s a musical component that doesn’t feel choreographed or staged, but rather in an attempt to show a rich and vibrant community and way of life, music simply pours out of the characters, whether they’re mourning or celebrating. And such wonderful folk music it is. But beneath the folksy and occasionally cute and charming asides (this isn’t a 3 act structure kind of film, and it takes its time with brilliant vignettes and side quests), there’s always profound insight into humanity, justice, and founding principles of America (such as: Never steal another man’s truck).
Through singular dialog, remarkable performances (LookingGlass in her debut captivates, going toe to toe with both McConaughey and Russell), a rich soundscape, and totally unique adventures, The Rivals Of Amziah King manages something miraculous in 2025: It feels like something fresh, perhaps new, and handily unique. It does this with notable filmmaking craft and is clearly a passion project for Patterson, who slam dunked his debut with The Vast Of Night, but then took 7 years to craft this incredible work that feels like an adaptation of a piece of great American literature, but is in fact an original script.
I’m steering clear of many plot specifics, but The Rivals Of Amziah King is something I’d argue is prophetic. Prophecy is often associated with “telling the future”. But in reality it’s more about speaking truth to power. And what strikes me most about The Rivals Of Amziah King is that it is at once a bold celebration of America, its potluck meals, its folk music, its fast food establishments, and its melting pot, and also a stark warning against the ascendence of empire, the threat of power consolidation, and the ruinous end result of scarcity mentality that causes so many to take far more than they can ever use for fear that others will take it from them. Kateri herself is also a fully fleshed out and wonderfully realized character who takes her place in the modern American saga, coming up in the wake of legends and giants in her community and leveraging the goodwill and connections of a cared about community to forge a future where the truck stealers get kicked the fuck out for the good of the hive.
The Rivals Of Amziah King is revelatory. It is not without violence and bloodshed, almost a modern Western in that regard as it acknowledges that there’s an undeniable violence to America’s story. But as it revels in the healthy elements of our remarkable country, it also charts a new path forward through the capable actions of a Native woman, who isn’t always doing what’s legal, but is balancing the scales of justice in favor of what’s right. Patterson welcomes us into a vibrant tale of whimsy and wonder, of death and destruction, and offers a satisfying and entertaining bit of advice that we choose a narrow path or we’ll be led to destruction.
And I’m Out.
