Well ol Father Death is back, and heaping praises on a film called SMOKE SIGNALS. Seems like the ol man, has a hankerin' for some good films, because he sure is a film watching machine. Good work me friend, here we go...
Here's another review from the notorious Father Death...
I just got back from seeing the screening of "Smoke Signals" at Eccles theatre, directed by an Indian filmmaker Chris Eyre. This is the best movie I've seen at the Sundance Fest so far. I may be overexaggerating, but this was a rare piece of work produced by the crew and starring the cast consisting almost entirely of Native Americans and was recently acquired by Miramax for distribution.
What's the point? Simple.. "Smoke Signals" was adapted for the screen by screenwriter Sherman Alexie from his novel "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" and it was so well-written with poignant touches and spicy humor. For those who don't know Alexie, he wrote poems and numerous novels such as "Reservation Blues" and "Indian Killer". It's about Victor living in an Idaho Indian reservation who was devastated when he heard about the death of his long-absent alcoholic father. Victor recalled the flashbacks of his relationship with his father that was remarkingly photographed in the same technique as John Sayle's "Lone Star". Broke and nowhere to go, he enlisted his geeky childhood pal Thomas to pay for the trip with him only if they get along on their journey. They hitch the ride on the bus to search and retrieve his father. There were pretty funny scenes of them in which they confer to a female passenger on the bus and and debates over the dinner. I won't spoil it for you, but Victor tells Thomas to do something he would never even thought of doing on a bus stop, which was so hilarious it triggered the massive laugh riot. Humor aside, they got in trouble in an accident and was let go to meet a beautiful woman played by Irene Bedard who was the voice of Disney's "Pocahontas". The woman was a neighbor and friend of his father living on another obscure reservation. Victor received something from her and there were VERY poignant moments that I wouldn't reveal as not to spoil the entire movie.
In my opinion, this is a terrific piece of filmmaking and it was incidentally developed with the help from Sundance Institute. Chris Eyre also conceived truly remarkable performances from Adam Beach and Even Adams as the traveling buddies. It's something I've never seen so well-made by an Indian director. The landscape cinematography by Brian Capener was truly beautiful. The only thing I was disappointed was because "Smoke Signals" didn't star Graham "Dances with Wolves, Thunderheart" Greene, Wes "Last of the Mohicans" Studi, or even Russell "Natural Born Killers" Means, which were considered favorite actors among many indian tribes. After the movie ended, the audience really loved it and went on standing O when Chris, the cast, and producers appeared on the stage to discuss their movie and answered questions from the audience. When asked about the budget, the producers wouldn't reveal except that the estimate accounted for 1% of the entire budget of "Titanic" so they said figure it out. Literally translated, I would say about $2 million. I predict "Smoke Signals" will win Dramatic Audience Award to be handed out next Sunday, so I hope I'm right. Go see it before you miss it and trust me, you'll really enjoy it!
Adios,
Father Death
