Smoke Signals (1998)

reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten


SMOKE SIGNALS

Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Miramax Films/ Shadow Catcher Entertainment Director: Chris Eyre Writer: Sherman Alexie Cast: Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer

Father-son relationships have been the stuff of drama at least since Oedipus killed his father Laius, and as such, stories focusing on fathers and sons should be universal. It would be a shame, then, if a film like "He Got Game," honing in on the affiliation between a young black man who needs to forgive his dad's accidental killing of the boy mother, were seen primarily by African-Americans. It would likewise be regretful if "Smoke Signals," also about a young man's need to forgive his father--in this case for abandoning the family--is ignored by white moviegoers simply because the principal characters are American Indians. "Smoke Signals" deals with serious themes in a lighthearted, self-depracatory manner. But its principal repute comes from its subtext: it is the first-ever fictional movie written, directed, acted and co-produced by American Indians.

Having enjoyed a run at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival where it garnered the prestigious Audience Award and Filmmakers' Trophy, "Smoke Signals" is really four stories adapted into a single, unified comedy-drama based on Sherman Alexie's "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Director Chris Eyre films it with a variety of angles, filters, and techniques including the clever blending of flashbacks into the present. It opens on the Coeur d'Alene reservation in Idaho on a terrible fire which took place in 1976 killing the parents of little Thomas Builds-the-fire (Evan Adams). When Brian Capener's camera returns to the present we see Thomas as a young man with oversized glasses and a 3-piece suit, conveying the image of a nerd, one whose penchant for endless storytelling could almost be a metaphor for the entire oral tradition of the Native American people. Unlike Jim Carrey's character Fletcher Reade in "Liar, Liar," Thomas tells falsehoods, but he mixes them so cleverly into his narratives that one can scarcely tell where the prevarications fade away and verity makes an appearance.

Thomas's idol, Victor (Adam Beach), is his polar opposite. Victor, a strapping, handsome, athletic young man, can hardly avoid Thomas since his father Arnold (Gary Farmer) saved the bespectacled boy's life by catching the infant as he was thrown from a window. But the dauntless Arnold is not a hero to Victor, as he walked out on the family in a drunken rage ten years previous. Victor, who has never forgiven his dad for the desertion, gets the opportunity to absolve Arnold posthumously when he travels with Thomas to a desolate Phoenix, Arizona location to pick up the ashes of the newly-deceased man.

Much of "Smoke Signals" is a road movie which has its serious moments, but never fails to come across as solid, fun entertainment, as Thomas regales his idol with fanciful tales of Victor's dad. Half annoyed and half relishing the narratives, Victor tries to shape up the storyteller's image by telling him to wipe the smile off his face, lose the suit in favor of a power T-shirt, and most of all "get stoic." Though their tribe has always been fishermen, he urges his protege to act like a buffalo hunter, the extended counsel providing the high comic point of the movie. Through their meeting with a woman who has nurtured Victor's dad in Phoenix, Suzy Song (Irene Bedard), Victor learns not to expect perfection in a parent and finally comes to terms with his rage.

Adam Beach and Evan Adams provide a comical study in contrasts in much the way urbane New Yorker Robin Monroe clashes with laid-back charter pilot Quinn Harris in the much less substantial and more slickly commercial "Six Days, Seven Nights." Were "Smoke Signals" to go on for another quarter hour, the novelty could well have worn off but at an economical 89 minutes, director Eyre supplies just the right balance of humor, intuition, and balance in a movie that provides a gossamer story wholly from the Indian point of view. It's not that the Indians, like Victor, are a forgiving people. The opening scenes are peppered with commentary such as the wish that all whites would go back whence they came--London and Paris, for example--and no one considers General Custer a hero. "Smoke Signals" touches on subjects as diverse as frybread, Phoenix, and forgiveness--a distinguished Indian entry into mainstream filmography. PG-13. Running time: 89 minutes. (C) Harvey Karten 1998


The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews