Description
Critically acclaimed as one of the best films of the year, SMOKE SIGNALS was also a distinguished winner at the Sundance Film Festival! Though Victor and Thomas have lived their entire young lives in the same tiny town, they couldn't have less in common! But when Victor is urgently called away, it's Thomas who comes up with the money to pay for his trip. There's just one thing Victor has to do: take Thomas along for the ride! You're in for a rare and entertaining comic treat as this most unlikely pair leave home on what becomes an unexpectedly unforgettable adventure of friendship and discovery!
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Amazon.com
Based on a couple of short stories (from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven) by Sherman Alexie, Smoke Signals is a lean and assured feature that speaks well of its lengthy, rich evolution, including a development stint at Sundance. The first feature made by a Native American crew and creative team, the film concerns two young Idaho men with radically different memories of one Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), a former resident of the reservation who split years before and has just died in Phoenix. Arnold's strapping, popular son, Victor (Adam Beach), remembers him best as an alcoholic, occasionally abusive father who drove off one day and never came back. By contrast, Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams), whom Arnold had saved from certain death years earlier, has chosen to exaggerate the man's life and deeds in a mythmaking fashion that drives Victor crazy. Circumstances bring the two together, however, in a bus ride to retrieve Arnold's ashes. There, in Phoenix, a confrontation with the reality of the dead man's fullest legacy has a profound effect on both characters. Alexie, who wrote the script and was personally involved in all aspects of the production, and first-time director Chris Eyre are so polished in their approach that you can barely feel the cinematic engine at work here. This is the kind of movie in which the characters seem to be driving everything forward, a captivating and pleasant experience that gets a little too tidy at the end (can we call a moratorium on scenes of human ashes lovingly disposed to the winds?), but which is undeniably moving. The cast, including Irene Bedard (the voice of and physical inspiration for Disney's Pocahontas) is outstanding. --Tom Keogh
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 Beautiful universal story ( lefthandedirish )
There is something so beautiful about this movie, and yet I find it hard to explain. I try to recall this movie whenever I run into someone I can not find redeemable. Sometimes you can only focus on the bad, and sometimes you only focus on the good, and sometimes you discover the middle.
Victor Joseph and his friend Thomas are taking a road trip. Thomas and Victor are on their way to pay their last respects to Victor's dad who was living in Phoenix. Victor needs some financial assistance and Thomas is willing to help so long as he can go with. Victor needs to come to grips with his past, how he feels about his father who has passed away and he hasn't seen in 10 years, he needs to stop living with a mask on. Thomas seems terribly annoying, but it's Thomas recollections of everything good that help Victor see that not all is lost. Thomas' positive energy helps elevate the mood of the movie as well. Suzy Song is who the boys find when they get to Phoenix, and she fills in the gaps for Victor about his father.
It is the journey of this movie that is beautiful. It is funny, and sad, and thought provoking. The acting is great, the story is universal. It may be a Native American tale, but it really is a universal lesson. Very moving.
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Universal Themes from a Native American perspective
On the Coeur D'Alene reservation in Idaho, not much seems to be happening, as witnessed by the deadpan "traffic" and "weather" reports of local radio KREZ. But for two young men, Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire, (Evan Adams) their lives became entwined when as babies, Victor's father, Arnold (Gary Farmer), saved Thomas's life in a fire that consumed his parents. Arnold, an abusive alcoholic who was traumatized by the tragedy, deserts his family and eventually dies in his trailer in the Arizona desert. The two boys, who have a grating love-hate relationship, travel down to retrieve his remains. Victor is all bottled rage behind his set smile. Thomas is like a tactless Jiminy Cricket, forcing his friend to face his currently unbearable reality. Meeting Suzy Song (Irene Bedard), a neighbor (and surrogate daughter) of Arnold's, the circle of all their lives comes into completion. This film is not so much an "Indian" movie as it is a fable about such universal themes of family, betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption seen through Native American eyes. As such, it crosses all ethnic barriers. What makes "Smoke Signals" special is how easily it works on several levels, not only past and present, but physical and ethereal as well. All the main characters seem to have two identities that are constantly shifting, their frail humanity giving way to a deep and potent spirit. In particular, Evan Adams's Thomas, all nerdy glasses and geek manner, is revealed as an Old Man Coyote storyteller, whose brazenly outlandish tales carry wisdom and power. The ending scene on a nameless Spokane bridge reaches a level of emotional intensity that mainstream movies are unable (or unwilling) to touch. The first film ever produced, directed, and acted by Native Americans, it won various awards at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. The poignant soundtrack includes native acappella group Ulali and the hilarious chant, "John Wayne's Teeth". Adapted from the story "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie (who also wrote the screenplay).
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Storytelling ( clinicia )
I had this on VHS and I finally got it DVD. It is still nice to watch after not seeing it for years. The story is timeless, the acting and directing are fantastic. What I like about Smoke Signals is it's an original film about American Indians and it's not everyday you see movies about our people. It's like a breath of fresh air to watch this film. I catch myself looking in the background at glimpses of scenery of the the mountains and deserts I am so far away from. It gets me out of the hellhole of southern california that I'm in. I even like some of the background music they use in the scenes, it's soulstirring. I'm just glad I have Smoke Signals as part of my DVD collection again. FRYBREADPOWER!!
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Smoke Signals DVD
The DVD was new in excellent condition and was delivered in an extremely short time.
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Awesome
It's a fantastic movie, funny, and has a good little under story. I reccomend - it's not pow wow-ish or anything, it's just a story that is on a reservation..
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