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Smoke Signals Reviews
In contention for the worst movie I've ever seen.
Lacking depth, and unoriginal
It's very close to what you can expect from a 90's drama with strong emotional moments that are borderline melodramatics but Smoke Signals is a powerful movie nonetheless. With this too underrepresented perspective, we learn the issues, culture, and heritage in native Americans reserves. It's a brilliant homage of the oral traditions as every character would take the time to tell a story true or false, with a pitch perfect narration.
Saw this since it had to do with CDA tribe and I have been to the reservation. It was an interesting movie to see their perspective on being an Indian, but the it was tedious and not well written. It did have some good moments and characters, but it could've been more concise. Saw on delta.
Love this movie. A great story of friendship, learning from your past, accepting your past and creating your own identity. Great performances all around
The isn't many Native American stories that depict the struggle and point of view of new age family dilemmas. I really appreciate the narrative that this movie brings and it is important story.
Sometimes it's a good day to die. And sometimes it's a good day to watch Smoke Signals, Because it's a damn good movie. This is what I thought diversity in films would look like when Hollywood finally started embracing it. But diversity in Hollywood today looks nothing like Smoke Signals, Because Smoke Signals is actually good. Hollywood doesn't make good movies anymore. And now I'm wondering if they ever did, Because Hollywood didn't make Smoke Signals either.
It means well but it isn't especially well done.
First time watching it last night and I loved it.
The movie Smoke Signals did a great job of using the theme forgiveness. It showed how Victor started to forgive his dad Joseph. When he realizes how much his dad wanted to come home and realized what he did for Suzie, Vicorts loses all hate for his dad and shows his mourning for the death of his father. They even show how Victor never talks about his dad to admitting that his father was in fact Joseph to the cops. He even spreads his ashes.
This movie is amazing at storytelling, especially in the house fire scenes. The director (Chris Eyre) does a wonderful job of mixing together flashback scenes and narration, while keeping sound from the actual scene muffled but audible. I particularly liked the scene where you see how the fire was started, with the father drunkenly lighting a firework that shoots off into the house (Eyre). This scene gives you all the emotion of the event, while still giving you full context and the emotion of other characters reacting to it.
Sherman Alexie is hardly my favorite author, but this adaption really makes you feel.
One of my 5 favorite movies of all time. Turns out that Sherman Alexie is a fantastic screenwriter as well as a fantastic writer.
I recently rewatched this gem based on the great Sherman Alexie Book "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Such a wonderful example of the benefit of the burgeoning indie film renaissance of the 1990s. Adam Beach and Evan Adams are perfect in a new take on odd couple/road trip/coming of age themes. Part of me loves it because it's based close to my hometown and I feel homesick with the desolate beauty. Part of me loves it for the rich narrative that borders on magical realism and full of gorgeous monologues. "I think it's a fine example of the oral tradition." Part of me loves it for how it wonderfully and authentically portrays a culture without enough representation on screen. It's a film about having a bit more patience with your own family even as they hurt you and it creates an ache to right all your own unintentional wrongs against others. "He didn't mean to." Heartbreakingly beautiful.
We had to watch this in English class because we were studying Native American literature and culture. For and Indy film, it's not bad; it's got a good cast, setting, and story. Sure, it could've been filmed better â" the lighting and camera were mediocre. A nice, short film that was not a complete waste of time.
Smoke Signals is a drama comedy that graced the silver screen in 1998 directed by Chris Eyre starring Adam Beach as Victor Joseph and Evan Adams as Thomas. Throughout this film, from beginning to end, everything felts lackluster. The acting, soundtrack and setting were all boring and can be described with only a few words. Here are some examples; Thomas is a nerd and they live on a First Nations Reserve. Thomas (Evan Adams) the nerdy First Nation kid whose parents perished in a fire back when he was just a new born baby. But thankfully he was saved by Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer) who happens to be his ï¿ 1/2friendï¿ 1/2Â? Victorï¿ 1/2(TM)s (Adam Beach) dad. A few years had passed until Arnold left the First Nations reserve abandoning his family to never return. More time had passed until Thomas and Victor are in their teens and receive the tragic news that Arnold Joseph, Victors dad has passed away. Now Thomas and Victor must head out to somewhere near Phoenix, Arizona to pick up Arnoldsï¿ 1/2(TM) ashes from mysterious woman Suzy Song (Irene Bedard). Smoke Signals doesn't really stand out when compared to other fish out of water films. They never really felt different inside or outside the reserve. The soundtrack is boring and like the acting and dialogue, is choppy. In the beginning of the film when the Build-the-firesï¿ 1/2(TM) house is burning down, the acting was lackluster and cheesy. People look sad but not devastated. Like they missed the bus, not lost their friends, children, and everything inside the house. My first impression of the film was that it was bad because of what I have previously listed. But watching it a second time, I was able to appreciate the smaller details more. I really enjoyed the transitions from flashback to present like when Arnold shoots the basketball and then the ball rolls towards the future and into Victorï¿ 1/2(TM)s hands in the present. The lighting also fits most scenes, the mellow scenes have mellow lighting and the dark scenes have dark lighting. I noticed how Adam Beach took advantage of the stereotype of a ï¿ 1/2tough Indianï¿ 1/2Â? and uses it as a cover around white people to hide his more vulnerable self. Even though I believe that this film is a half decent movie, there are a few things I that it did well in my opinion. These three things are how the movie nailed the rewatchability because of how much we noticed more a second time such as how we got a better understanding of why Arnold drank so much and we understood why Arnold left and noticed how convincing Gary Farmer was at acting guilty; like when they would talk about the fire. Throughout the film we also got the impression of what itï¿ 1/2(TM)s like to be an aboriginal teen in the late 90s. We saw how lonely and quiet it is to live on a First Nations Reserve. We saw him get pushed around by the cowboys on the bus. We even saw some First Nations food too. The moral of this film was to love our fathers and that they always love us even if they donï¿ 1/2(TM)t show it.. In conclusion, I think Smoke Signals is as good as a lukewarm bath. Itï¿ 1/2(TM)s not terrible and itï¿ 1/2(TM)s not revolutionary, it's just painfully average. While films like Black Panther have a target audience of African Americans, they still didnï¿ 1/2(TM)t exclude other ethnicities. While Smoke Signals has a target audience of American First Nations, it managed to exclude other ethnicities. This is just another reason to skip out on smoke signals. 6/10, I would like to see a remake done better.
The best comedy movie ever made!