Title: Smoke Signals
Year: 1998
Director: Chris Eyre
Screenplay: Sherman Alexie
(based on stories from his novel
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Time: 89 minutes
After finishing The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie late last night, I wanted to see this movie again, which I own on videocassette. Alexie wrote the screenplay for the movie based off the book. I didn’t realize that when I picked up the book recently at a local bookstore, but once I began reading it, the names of the characters sounded very familiar.
The book, though, is more a series of stories than one cohesive story like in the movie. While I liked the book, I liked the movie more because it seemed to connect together better than the book. The movie follows the story of Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) as they travel to pick up the ashes of Victor’s father (Gary Farmer). Along the way, of course, as often is in the nature of a journey movie, Victor discovers things about himself, but also about his father and his identity as a Native American.
Although the story is focused on Beach’s character, it is Adams’ portrayal of Thomas Builds-the-Fire that steals the show with his telling of quirky stories, as in the clip above. It is no wonder that Adams won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance in 1999.
Interestingly, and something I didn’t realize until I saw it on IMDB, the movie was the first movie to be written, directed and co-produced by Native Americans. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly encourage you renting it or ordering it from Netflix. It’s more than worth it.
