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Tarfumes.com - Smoke Signals
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List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $9.95
Your Save: $ 0.04 ( 0% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Miramax Films
Starring: Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer, Tantoo Cardinal
Directed By: Chris Eyre
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780788813719
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0788813714
Label: Miramax Films
Manufacturer: Miramax Films
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Miramax Films
Release Date: 1999-01-19
Running Time: 89
Studio: Miramax Films
Theatrical Release Date: 1998-06-26
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Editorial Reviews:
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Critically acclaimed as one of the best films of the year -- Miramax Home Entertainment is proud to present SMOKE SIGNALS -- a distinguished winner at the Sundance Film Festival! Though Victor and Thomas have lived their entire young lives in the same tiny town, they couldn't have less in common! But when Victor is urgently called away, it's Thomas who comes up with the money to pay for his trip. There's just one thing Victor has to do: take Thomas along for the ride! You're in for a rare and entertaining comic treat as this most unlikely pair leave home on what becomes an unexpectedly unforgettable adventure of friendship and discovery!
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: True to The Life
Comment: I saw this movie when it first came out, with a Cheyenne friend of mine with whom I shared memories and context. At the end of the film, I sat silent in my seat, ashamed for him to know I was crying. I wept for many reasons: hunger and thirst for good native stories; grief of my own and that for my child whose life could well come to resemble any of these characters' - something only time could tell. The script pulls off an important trick: presenting archetypal constants whilst retaining authenticity to The Life.
I recall my gratitude upon the emergence of Alexie: finally! An Indian Writer who is literary, a WRITER first, and then native. Delicious! Smoke Signals was the first of many films breaking away from cheesy characterizations of tribals, the first to move in close and begin to explore native life on the human scale, without losing the very specific inflections therein.
We who live now in an urban landscape scrubbed so free of these inflections, we drank up the sounds and view of Smoke Signals, bathed in genuine music of the speech of The People. There are only two or three flat notes on the part of these actors throughout the film.
This film deserves to stay in its place of importance for breaking us loose of the Ponderosa Ranch!
The music is delicious, the young actors have since become firmly ensconced in television and film, continuing to deepen and refine the public desire for true writing for native players.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautiful universal story
Comment: There is something so beautiful about this movie, and yet I find it hard to explain. I try to recall this movie whenever I run into someone I can not find redeemable. Sometimes you can only focus on the bad, and sometimes you only focus on the good, and sometimes you discover the middle.
Victor Joseph and his friend Thomas are taking a road trip. Thomas and Victor are on their way to pay their last respects to Victor's dad who was living in Phoenix. Victor needs some financial assistance and Thomas is willing to help so long as he can go with. Victor needs to come to grips with his past, how he feels about his father who has passed away and he hasn't seen in 10 years, he needs to stop living with a mask on. Thomas seems terribly annoying, but it's Thomas recollections of everything good that help Victor see that not all is lost. Thomas' positive energy helps elevate the mood of the movie as well. Suzy Song is who the boys find when they get to Phoenix, and she fills in the gaps for Victor about his father.
It is the journey of this movie that is beautiful. It is funny, and sad, and thought provoking. The acting is great, the story is universal. It may be a Native American tale, but it really is a universal lesson. Very moving.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Universal Themes from a Native American perspective
Comment: On the Coeur D'Alene reservation in Idaho, not much seems to be happening, as witnessed by the deadpan "traffic" and "weather" reports of local radio KREZ. But for two young men, Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire, (Evan Adams) their lives became entwined when as babies, Victor's father, Arnold (Gary Farmer), saved Thomas's life in a fire that consumed his parents. Arnold, an abusive alcoholic who was traumatized by the tragedy, deserts his family and eventually dies in his trailer in the Arizona desert. The two boys, who have a grating love-hate relationship, travel down to retrieve his remains. Victor is all bottled rage behind his set smile. Thomas is like a tactless Jiminy Cricket, forcing his friend to face his currently unbearable reality. Meeting Suzy Song (Irene Bedard), a neighbor (and surrogate daughter) of Arnold's, the circle of all their lives comes into completion. This film is not so much an "Indian" movie as it is a fable about such universal themes of family, betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption seen through Native American eyes. As such, it crosses all ethnic barriers. What makes "Smoke Signals" special is how easily it works on several levels, not only past and present, but physical and ethereal as well. All the main characters seem to have two identities that are constantly shifting, their frail humanity giving way to a deep and potent spirit. In particular, Evan Adams's Thomas, all nerdy glasses and geek manner, is revealed as an Old Man Coyote storyteller, whose brazenly outlandish tales carry wisdom and power. The ending scene on a nameless Spokane bridge reaches a level of emotional intensity that mainstream movies are unable (or unwilling) to touch. The first film ever produced, directed, and acted by Native Americans, it won various awards at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. The poignant soundtrack includes native acappella group Ulali and the hilarious chant, "John Wayne's Teeth". Adapted from the story "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie (who also wrote the screenplay).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Storytelling
Comment: I had this on VHS and I finally got it DVD. It is still nice to watch after not seeing it for years. The story is timeless, the acting and directing are fantastic. What I like about Smoke Signals is it's an original film about American Indians and it's not everyday you see movies about our people. It's like a breath of fresh air to watch this film. I catch myself looking in the background at glimpses of scenery of the the mountains and deserts I am so far away from. It gets me out of the hellhole of southern california that I'm in. I even like some of the background music they use in the scenes, it's soulstirring. I'm just glad I have Smoke Signals as part of my DVD collection again. FRYBREADPOWER!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Smoke Signals DVD
Comment: The DVD was new in excellent condition and was delivered in an extremely short time.
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