Going down the road

>> Smoke Signals, the first feature ever entirely created by Native Americans, is a gem

by MATTHEW HAYS

Minority representations in cinema often polarize audiences. Because minority spectators are so starved for images of themselves on the big screen, they often rave about films which may not actually live up to the hype. Others see the images as condescending caricatures, valiant but failed attempts at correcting the past wrongs of Hollywood's vicious stereotyping of just about everybody who isn't white, straight and male.

It is a pleasure to report that Smoke Signals, the first feature ever written, directed and acted entirely by Natives is neither condescending nor overhyped. Though at times it borders on being a bit overly earnest, Sherman Alexie's screenplay is an intelligent and poignant road movie about two young men on a quest to redeem a dead father.

As a young, confused Native man living on an Idaho reserve (or "The Rez" as it is referred to throughout the film), Adam Beach's life falls further apart when he learns that his father, who's been absent for a decade, has died of a heart attack. In flashback, we learn that Beach's father (Gary Farmer) was a troubled alcoholic who left the family when his wife (Tantoo Cardinal) demanded he stop drinking.

Understandably, Beach has a messy and complicated series of feelings towards his father, feelings he must now work out without him. Beach longs to travel to the trailer park where his father died to collect the urn containing his remains. Beach is penniless, however, so there's no way he can make it there.

Evan Adams is delightful as the rather awkward raconteur, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, who immediately recognizes Beach's woes and offers to pay his way to the trailer park. The two have had a shaky relationship while growing up on the reservation, but take off anyway on a journey that allows them to grow closer and come to terms with their respective pasts.

Director Chris Eyre (a mere 28 years old) has assembled a perfect cast here. Bringing the screenplay to life are Evans and Beach, whose chemistry in the lead roles is remarkable. Alexie manages his characters well, never deifying them, but maintaining their vulnerability and likability throughout.

Perhaps Smoke Signals' one fault is that, like many self-conscious breakthrough films, its results don't entirely live up to its ambitions. But that shouldn't keep audiences away; this is a delightful and intelligent low-budget feature, one that should prove a welcome respite from the summer's big-budget-bully likes of Armageddon and Godzilla.

Smoke Signals opens Friday, July 3