Smoke Signals review

SMOKE SIGNALS:

A UNIQUE AND ENTERTAINING DRAMA WITH WIT AND HEART!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: B+ (3 stars)

MIRAMAX FILMS

Adam Beach and Evan Adams as Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds-the-Fire in Smoke Signals

            In 1998 an independent drama-comedy film was released, based on the short story, This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona, from Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, known as Smoke Signals. While the film requires some thinking, it’s jammed with funny moments, decent acting, and often tear jerking drama.

            The film depicts the lives of two Indian kids, Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams), who have been friends since they were children.     Unfortunately when they were young, a terrible fire happened that almost killed them, luckily Victor’s father managed to save the boys from the burning building.

            When Victor and Thomas got older, Victor’s father abandoned his family and left town. Victor and Thomas decide to go out and search for him, from the bus to a car that only drives in reverse, they embark on a heartwarming and hilarious journey that will change their lives forever.

            Overall, I was very impressed with Smoke Signals, it had some very funny dialogue and situations, most notably the car that drives in reverse, I couldn’t describe how hard I was laughing at that scene in particular. Besides comedy, the film also does well with its dramatic moments, you can feel the pain Victor was going through when his father left his family and most of the times when Thomas brings up the fire incident.

            But what good is strong dramatic and funny writing without decent acting? I haven’t seen most of these actors in other movies, but from what I got when watching this, they seem like fine actors, especially Adam Beach and Evan Adams as Victor and Thomas, they portray their characters very well.

            Much like Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape as the mentally handicapped kid, Evan plays a convincing Indian kid as Thomas, despite the fact he is Canadian, he just knocks it out of the park in this film.

            I’m glad I watched this movie, it’s very entertaining, especially for a film outside of the Hollywood system (aside from District 9 and the upcoming Angry Video Game Nerd movie). It’s funny, tragic, and well executed all at the same time. Though it’s probably not a movie I’d watch multiple times, but it might be worth a second viewing, give this flick a rent and see what you’ve been missing.