Medicine River

Will (Graham Greene) is a photojournalist who has been through gruelling shoots in dangerous places for the sake of front page pictures in the newspapers. The movie opens with Will being imprisoned in some fictional Latin-American country ruled by the iron fist of a dictator. The only way he frees himself from his solitary makeshift cell -- really a hole in the ground -- is that he does a portrait of the dictator.

Arriving home in Toronto, Will's agent/girlfriend Ellen (Janet-Laine Green) is working to fill his already busy schedule. Then, suddenly, comes the phone call about the death of his mother on a reserve in Alberta. It is upon his arrival at the reserve he sees stark differences in his lifestyle and that of the residents.

Will discovers that he is weeks late for his mother's funeral and then tries to go home to his busy schedule. But the residents of the community try to persuade him to stay in some very funny ways including making him take photos for a yearbook and putting him on the local basketball team.

In the role of Bertha Morely, Tina Louise Bomberry shines as a co-conspirator in trying to keep Will on the reserve. She also helps to engineer the meeting of Will and pregnant Louise (Sheila Tousy) who wants to raise her child alone.

I liked this movie because Graham Greene and Tom Jackson (as Harlan) work very well together. The two are foils for each other in a similar way to comedy teams like Wayne and Shuster.

The movie as a whole says something about what we value in life and how we live it. Do we reconnect with ourselves and does life come into clearer focus when we rejoin our family roots and heritage?

While the humour is not of the belly-laugh variety, it is more gentle schtick. This movie is part of a string of positive stories about our first nations people instead of the old "angry Indian" themes we have seen in other stories on TV and in cinemas.

Worth seeing!

I thought this film to be quite good since it had an all star cast in it. I really liked the storyline plot where Graham Greene was told to go back to Alberta for his mom's funeral but couldn't make it. As a result he was weeks late for it and wanted to stay a lot longer since he felt really bad about missing his mom's funeral, and what was so funny about it was that everyone in the community was coming up with ways to keep him there as long as they can.

However I think this film should have been made as a drama rather than a comedy because when a film like this starts off on a serious note such as someone getting notified that their mother had recently passed away, I think that would be reason enough for a film like this to be considered as a drama.

But......... anyways........... this is why I gave this film a 5 out of 10.

I was very excited when I heard there was a film adaptation of Thomas King's novel. Particularly as it starred Graham Greene and Tom Jackson both of whom I adore. I was very disappointed once I saw the film. The book is very light-hearted and has a mood and atmosphere that the film really didn't capture. And the film's story ended up being very far removed from the novel's which is a big reason that the comedy seems to have been lost.

I don't completely blame the screenwriter. From the novel it would have been very difficult to put together a film script. It was really more a series of vignettes. There is a through line but I'm not sure it was strong enough to sustain a film. Where it would have worked very well is in television. I think that the mistake here was the choice of medium.

I really enjoyed this film. It has a northern flair and friendly pace. Don't expect an action thriller though. This is a warm film emphasizing the role of community in ones search for himself. It wonderfully illustrates the native American community in a positive and accurate light.

Carries "Medicine River" on his considerable acting talent. He is surrounded with interesting characters, and the scenery is quite beautiful. Unfortunately the storyline is predictable and redundant, which seriously weakens the film. The basketball angle is both not believable, and poorly staged as well. The love angle is both frustrating and unresolved, leaving the viewer somewhat perplexed. The missing brother who never materializes is another unanswered question left dangling uncomfortably. The entire movie just sort of meanders along to a very underwhelming conclusion. There is no violence, no nudity, and quite honestly very little story. - MERK