The drama genre often gets a bad rap. As the one category that cannot be categorized, it feels like the place where all the movies that aren’t funny enough to be comedies, exciting enough to be action, or scary enough to be horrors go to die. Or at least to be enjoyed at afternoon showings by wealthy retirees on a Tuesday. But while the genre may not always turn out the most iconic or block-busting movies, it offers a sacred home for stories about people to be told. Those stories that defy category because they do a bit of everything, just like real life does. It’s nice sometimes to cleanse the cinematic palate with a movie that tells you the story of a regular person who may or may not have done or seen extraordinary things, and that’s exactly what you get with Carlyle Eubank’s Broke.
What is ‘Broke’ About?

Broke starts with a young man bursting out of the snowy landscape. Panicked, he digs around for his hat and boots in the snow, before steeling himself against the elements and beginning to trek, hopefully out of this situation. It then flashes back to introduce us to the amazingly-named True Brandywine (Wyatt Russell), a competitive bronc rider living a fairly ideal life for someone like him. He still lives at home with his Pop (Dennis Quaid), loving mother (Mary McDonnell), and little brother (Johnny Berchtold), tending the family farm and getting to the rodeo whenever he can. His dad is on his case about enlisting in the Marines and continuing the family military tradition, while True makes excuses about why he can’t do it right now, evidently hoping to keep making such excuses until his old man gives up on the whole idea.
The story flashes back and forth between True wandering through the wilderness, and the months of his life leading up to it. The two sides of the story seem so far removed that even by the final act, you’re wondering what could possibly happen to him to get him lost in a blizzard and fighting for survival. This is ultimately the main hook of the movie. What happened to True for him to end up all Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant? Remarkably, the way it ends up happening is so mundane that you couldn’t make it up, and it goes to show that these stupid little accidents that life throws your way can have serious ramifications.
True’s Downfall is His Passion

Image via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Aside from his father’s period digs and jabs about enlisting in the military, there is one major problem in True’s life. You only need to watch a few seconds of him bronc riding to realize just how dangerous a sport it is, his body whipping back and forth with ferocious energy. Well, after all the hits, falls and whiplash he’s endured over the years, he has developed some kind of permanent head injury. Regular spells of ear-piercing squeals remind him of his mortality, and of how badly he is damaging his body at his young age, as does his secretive reliance on opioids. But in this quick-buck, cash-in-hand world, he has no health insurance, and seems to resign himself to that optimistic sense of nihilism that affects those with dangerous passions. He’ll live in the saddle, or he’ll die trying.
Along the way, he meets Ali (Auden Thornton), a nurse with whom he becomes romantically involved. As in many dramas such as this, a chance meeting gives way to a whirlwind romance, before reality comes crashing down, and she realizes that he is slowly killing himself, and he thinks it’s unfair for her to stick around to watch it happen. Little by little, the meaning and beauty in True’s life is chipped away at. His other talent is drawing, but even he turns his nose up at the idea of paying to go to college for art. His life is on the horse, but when one particularly nasty injury takes him out of commission, misery descends upon him, and he knows he will only feel whole again as a rider.
Creative Editing and Scoring Help Tell True’s Story

Image via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

On the surface, there isn’t much that stands out about Broke. It’s one of those cowboy-vibed dramas — you might call it a Western — that exists and meanders along through the somewhat notable days of a jaded hero. It’s not unlike Inside Llewyn Davis, The Old Man & the Gun, or Green and Gold in this regard. Truthfully, it is probably one of those movies you’ll watch once, enjoy just fine, and never cross paths with again. It’s here to tell a story about people, with no bells and whistles, and then be on its way. But some creative choices help it make more of an impact. With True’s head injury becoming central to the story, the editing and sound do their part to emphasize it stylistically, although not in any heavy-handed way.
The whining of tinnitus combined with the fractured and overwhelming visuals going on behind True’s eyes are nicely conveyed by Glenn Garland’s editing and Daniel Pagan’s sound. In the wilderness scenes, this same strange unreality is used to a more encouraging end, offering True little glimpses of hope manifesting as pleasant mirages as opposed to disturbing medical episodes. These elements come together really well to make a fairly ordinary story leap off the screen a bit more.
Wyatt Russell Makes a Sympathetic Leading Man

Image via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

With the story resting firmly on True’s tired shoulders, it is much to Wyatt Russell’s credit that it never feels boring or unengaging. He makes True a mutedly pleasant fellow, one who can move between different social circles with charm and relative ease, but is not impervious to harm. There are a few very powerful, quietly emotional scenes in which this tough dude’s heart is clearly breaking. As the story progresses, we see the character falling apart, particularly when trauma hits incredibly close to home, and suddenly, his being lost in the wilderness seems fitting. What do you do when everything seems lost? Moreover, we are invested in whether he will battle it out and get back to his regular life, and find happiness again, or if we’re watching the last days of a doomed, tragic hero. It’s Russell’s endearing performance that makes us root for True as much as we do, despite his flaws and stubbornness.
This is writer/director Carlyle Eubank’s directorial debut, and it looks like he has the makings of a steady indie drama maker. Although his writing thus far has been more action-oriented, he displays a knack for human stories here. Sure, those aren’t the kinds of movies that get noticed as much, but they play an important role in keeping the art form grounded in the stories of people. Eubank’s direction has a tenderness for its characters and for the little worlds they build around themselves, bursting full of hopes and dreams that we really want to see them achieve. In an increasingly cynical world, these are the sorts of stories we need to keep our humanity intact.
Broke is now available to watch on VOD services.

Broke

A middle-of-the-road Western drama that nonetheless endears you to its characters.

Release Date

May 6, 2025

Runtime

100 Minutes

Director

Carlyle Eubank

Writers

Carlyle Eubank

Pros & Cons

Wyatt Russell delivers a heartfelt performance as cowboy whose career is dying.
Nonlinear narrative maintains intrigue about True’s downfall.
Sensitive writing and directing by Carlyle Eubank.

A fairly generic story of a life unraveling.