Smoke Signals (film)

Smoke Signals
Directed by Chris Eyre
Produced by
  • Chris Eyre
  • Sherman Alexie
  • Carl Bressler
  • Larry Estes
  • Scott Rosenfelt
  • David Skinner
Written by Sherman Alexie
Based on "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"
by Sherman Alexie
Starring
Music by B.C. Smith
Cinematography Brian Capener
Edited by Brian Berdan
Distributed by Miramax
Release dates
  • June 26, 1998 (1998-06-26)
Running time
 Approx 89 min.
Country
  • United States
  • Canada
Language English
Budget $2,000,000 (est.)

Smoke Signals is an independent film released in 1998, directed and co-produced by Chris Eyre and with a screenplay by Sherman Alexie, based on the short story "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" from his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993). The film won several awards and accolades, and was well received at numerous film festivals.

Plot

Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) live on the Coeur D'Alene Indian Reservation in Plummer, Idaho. Thomas is an eccentric storyteller and Victor is an angry young man who enjoys playing basketball.

Victor and Thomas are brought together through Victor's father, Arnold (Gary Farmer). Arnold rescued Thomas as an infant from a house fire that killed his parents. Because of this, Thomas considers him a hero. On the other hand, Victor, who endures Arnold's alcoholism, domestic violence, and eventual child abandonment, regards his father with both deep love and bitter resentment. Thomas and Victor grow up together as neighbors and acquaintances, fighting with each other and simultaneously forming a close, albeit uneasy, alliance.

When Arnold dies in Phoenix, Arizona, where he has stayed after leaving Victor and his mother Arlene (Tantoo Cardinal), Victor and Thomas go on an adventure to retrieve his ashes. The trip is the means for Victor and Thomas to explore their identities. Neither of them loses sight of his identity as an "Indian," but their perspectives differ. Victor is more stoic and Thomas is more traditional (and romantic to the point of watching the feature film Dances with Wolves countless times). Their dichotomy is portrayed all through the film; it results in Victor being irritated with Thomas, and Thomas being fascinated with Victor.

Once they reach Phoenix, Victor has to confront his conflicted feelings about his father, as well as his own identity. He has to grapple with a new account of Thomas's parents' death, as told by his father's friend, Suzy Song (Irene Bedard). She says that a drunken Arnold set off fireworks, accidentally starting the fire that cost Thomas his parents. The road trip by the young men leads to Thomas reconciling with the memory of his adoptive father Arnold, as he understand more of his path to alcoholism and related abuse and abandonment. Victor also gains a better understanding of Thomas and his reverence for Arnold.

Production

The film is unique as an all-Native American production: producers, director, screenwriter (Alexie), actors and technicians. Alexie did this to finally, properly represent the Native American culture that is so often represented through white ideals and misinterpretations of the Native life.

Critical reception

Reviews

The film was very well received by major critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives Smoke Signals an 86% rating, with 24 fresh and four rotten reviews.[1] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle gives the film a rave review calling it, "unpretentious, funny and soulful [...] Well-acted, well- written, with spare, beautiful imagery."[2] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times describes Smoke Signals as, "a warm film of friendship and reconciliation, and whenever it refers to historic injustices or contemporary issues in Native American culture, it does so with wry, glancing humor. Smoke Signals is indeed poignant, but above all it's pretty funny."[3] Marc Savlov of the The Austin Chronicle describes the film as "poignant and slyly humorous" and "alight with oddball nuances and wry observations." He also says, "the cast is uniformly excellent in their roles, and Eyre's persistent use of long, trailing shots reinforces the story's elegiac tone. Simple and elegant, Smoke Signals is a delicious, heady debut that lingers long after the tale is told."[4]

Susan Tavernetti of the Palo Alto Weekly, gave the film a mixed review, saying that "although sometimes the attempt to break down stereotypes seems stilted and forced, more often the result is humorous." She also says, "Chris Eyre's direction establishes an uneven tone, allowing some actors to deliver performances bordering on broad caricature while others play their roles straight." She praises the opening and closing sequences which she states, "beautifully combine poetic voice-overs with visual lyricism."[5] Paul Bond of the World Socialist Web Site criticized Sherman Alexie's screenplay; he felt it was not as strong as the short story collection on which it was based. Bond also believes the producers of the film made compromises based upon commercial pressures.[6]

Awards and honors

References

  1. ↑ "Smoke Signals Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  2. ↑ `Smoke' Causes Tears of Sadness, Joy
  3. ↑ Smoke Signals: Stylish 'Signals' a Bittersweet Comedy About Friendship
  4. ↑ Smoke Signals
  5. ↑ Smoke Signals review
  6. ↑ Stories from the reservation at the Wayback Machine (archived December 24, 2007)
  7. ↑ AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees

Further reading

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