Smoke signals casts disappointing spell

COURTESY YORK SQUARE CINEMA The holy trinity of 'Smoke Signals.'

As the first of its kind--a commercial film directed, written, and produced entirely by Native Americans-- Smoke Signals carries a weighty burden. It is a burden that the film sadly fails to live up to.

Directed by Chris Eyre and written by Sherman Alexie--the author of the book from which the film has been adapted--Smoke Signals opens in Idaho's Coeura d'Alene Indian Reservation. In the first scene, Thomas (Evan Adams) recalls the night of July 4, 1976, when a raging fire burned his home to the ground and killed his parents. Thomas, just a babe in arms, is saved from certain death by a neighbor, Arnold Joseph, who is the father of another baby boy, Victor. As the flames envelop the burning house, Thomas' rhythmic voice narrates the scene, explaining that some children are pillars of flame while some are pillars of ash; he and Victor, he declares, are both.

The film then skips ahead 22 years to reveal that little on the reservation has changed--the same radio station announces the same weather report from the same broken down truck by the side of the road. While Thomas and Victor, now young men on the brink of adulthood, have remained on the reservation, Arnold Joseph has abandoned both his wife and his son to settle in Phoenix.

Thomas is devoted to the old tradition of Indian storytelling. Socially awkward and constantly chattering, he has difficulty fitting in with his peers. Victor, conversely, is cool and distant, embittered by his father's desertion and constantly harried by Thomas's tales. When Arnold Joseph dies suddenly and Victor is forced to travel to Phoenix to settle his father's affairs, the young men are unwittingly bound to one another. Thomas will give Victor the money he needs to make the journey in exchange for the opportunity to travel with him. With the start of this journey, the story truly begins.

Smoke Signals is a beautifully made movie. The direction is clear and clean and the editing is crisp. The score is perfectly suited to the picture and is worked seamlessly into the action. The long shots of Arnold Joseph's yellow pickup truck lumbering along the road, the story of Victor's mother and her famous fried bread, and the portrayal of Victor and Thomas's bus ride to Phoenix are all filmed with a keen eye and loving hand.

Knowing that this movie has been a breakthrough of sorts for the Native American community in cinematic history, one wants to be able to tout it as a triumph, to acknowledge it as a much overdue alternative to the cowboys-and-Indians classics of previous generations. The movie itself is quite aware of its own responsibility, and this awareness can be seen in every aspect of the film's production, from the first scene to the closing credits.

Unfortunately, the script of Smoke Signals leaves much to be desired. Originally a full-length novel by Sherman Alexie, the screenplay adaptation is choppy and scattered. In attempting to address too much, Eyre leaves the viewer with a fragmented picture of the two young men and the emotional and physical journey they undertake. In the end the director is unable to pull the pieces of his narrative together.

Adams plays the difficult role of Thomas with great compassion, and several of the minor characters add much to the film's power and humor, such as the two girls on the reservation who drive their car backwards through the streets the Mississippi figure skater who meets Thomas and Victor on the bus. Unfortunately, Irene Bedard's portrayal of Susie (Arnold Joseph's friend in Phoenix who notifies the family of his death) is disappointing at best. Bedard has neither the earthiness nor the warmth that the part requires, and her rather plastic performance devalues her character's role in Victor's ultimate epiphany.

Perhaps the critical success that Smoke Signals is currently enjoying will encourage other Native American screenwriters, directors, actors, and producers to continue what Alexie and Eyre have begun. If so, this film will have served an important cinematic purpose. Yet Smoke Signals might be better viewed as a rough draft for future films: worthy of notice, but not necessarily worth the price of admission.

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