"Smoke Signals" was touted at Sundance as the first completely Native American written, produced, directed etc. film or some such.

I thought it was going to be a plot less road movie, but it turned out instead to be about family and had a very specific story and plot line that avoided clichés. In that way it reminded me of the New Zealand "Once Were Warriors" - with about 1% of that violence about aborigine families struggling to have dignity within the confines of a white-restricted world. Like that movie you virtually don't see whites at all.

I very much liked how the flash backs were handled (in the context of "the past is never dead, it's never even past" type evocation). The title is used for several layers of meanings about smoke and fire.

Dar Williams's road song was used in an ironic road way, but I think it was added on afterwards. The passenger is bopping along to the song on the radio saying over and over that it's her favorite song, which would be odd for an obscure song. But the joke is also that the car can only go in reverse.

John Trudell (he's the DJ at KREZ) and Elaine Miles ("Marilyn" from "Northern Exposure") have teeny parts. The music is appealing --though none by Trudell and very little traditional. The closing credits have a Walala (the trio with Rita Coolidge and sister) tune that I thought it would be cool if it got nominated for an Oscar, if it's not previously recorded, as I thought it would be something different at the Academy Awards. The other music mostly also comes ostensibly from KREZ and is by Native Americans but in the singer-songwriter mode (no Bill Miller used). Other than Ulali (I thought was Walela, but I was corrected) and Dar when I tried to read the credits as they quickly went by I didn't recognize any of the names.

I almost immediately caught "Powwow Highway" on cable and was surprised to see how much it must have influenced "Smoke Signals" as a Native American road movie.

(originally written 7/2/1998)

For years, Hollywood movies portrayed Indians as bloodthirsty savages who deserved the genocide that the white people committed against them. Then, there was the "Little Big Man" and "Dances with Wolves" mold: going a little overboard on portraying them as virtuous, even if they showed what the white people did to them. With "Smoke Signals", Native Americans finally got to speak for themselves on the silver screen. The movie portrays young Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) traveling to Phoenix to retrieve the ashes of his deadbeat father (Gary Farmer). He has to travel with Thomas-Builds-The-Fire (Evan Adams),with whom he has never been particularly friendly, but they realize their friendship along the way.

Overall, this movie is like a kick in the groin to the John Wayne mold (the Duke even becomes the butt of jokes in one scene). Around the time that I saw this movie, I read Sherman Alexie's novel "Indian Killer"; it had the same sort of humor that this movie has. Strange that even after the indigenous people see their land stolen and most of their people exterminated, they can still laugh, but they can.

More than anything, it's just great that the Indians are finally getting their say in movies. Also starring Irene Bedard, John Trudell (happy birthday, John!) and Tom Skerritt.

This was broadcast on channel 4 at the unlikely time of 2.30 am and since this is the type of time slot that TV guides under report I visited this site to find out what the movie was about and what sort of reception it received . It got fair critical acclaim from the views on this page so I sat back to watch it expecting a good movie but after seeing it I was left feeling disappointed

Being an independent movie ( Am I allowed to make puns about " Indie cinema " ? ) there's not much cash to build a story upon but even so the story is rather threadbare . Two Native Americans Victor Joseph ( No I don't know what he's doing with a Jewish name either ) and Thomas Builds - The - Fire get some bad news about Victor's father so depart on a journey . SMOKE SIGNALS is essentially a road movie that's character driven and as for characters Thomas steals the show . He is an ubergeek who keeps the art of American Indian storytelling alive , except for the fact no one likes his story . Perhaps this is a comedic turn on Indian stereotypes . I remember a few years ago during the Isle Of Bute International Folk Festival we had an Native American chief tell the legends and history of the Native American people . From what I read in the local paper not one single person left the venue without tears in their eyes , so poignant were the tales . Listening to Thomas you'll similarily burst into tears after hearing his stories - Tears of boredom that is !

The dialogue works very well . Thomas mentions that the worst cowboy was John Wayne because he never smiled and you can never trust anyone who never smiles . If you've seen a John Wayne movie you'll know this isn't true though perhaps you should never trust a cowboy who can't act ! The acting is fairly good and as you might expect Evan Adams has a peach of a role as Thomas and he plays his part to perfection . Unfortunately the Native American accents sound bizarre to me and resemble a strange Irish dialect to my ears and there's no escaping the fact that there's not much happening plot wise . I should also point out that I'd seen MIDNIGHT COWBOY a couple of days previously and since that movie starts with a wild west parody character catching a bus this might have caused some conscious comparisons