Smoke Signals

"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)