Rating: 
Summary: A very touching and moving film
Review: I saw this movie at the USA Film Festival in Dallas. It is a wonderful story about a man who left the res for life in the big city, and how he is seen by those in and outside the res. I thought it was a great movie and recommend it highly. I personally thought it was better than Smoke Signals, but many others disagree.
Rating: 
Summary: Challening, but good...
Review: I'm a middle aged white woman who loves Alexie's work so I was excited to buy this movie. Although it is rough in places, overall it is a good effort. Alexie can be confrontational, and this semi-autobiographical film does not romaticize Indians nor does it sugar coat their lives. I found parts of it hard to watch, but we members of the majority culture need this slap in the face. Alexie wanted to make his own film and quickly discovered that if he was going to work with Hollywood to do it, he would have to make compromises. Instead, he decided to totally finance, write and direct it himself, use local Seattle actors and crew, and shoot it digitally. The result is definitely not mainstream cinema, and not even indie cinema, but something more in the vein of Dogme. This is not a happy film, but definitely a worthwhile and powerful experience.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films I've ever had the pleasure of viewing
Review: It will probably be little known to many white folks who haven't spent a fair amount of time amongst the Native population or else on its fringes, but these depictions are pretty much mainstream. The way imagination, dream, and thoughts blend seamlessly with the "real-word" of flesh and stone, is telling, but closer to the intense world view that is here for the waking and dreaming.The musical creativity was perfectly astounding, both the writing and performances/improvisations, ditto the sound editing, photography, and film editing. And the director used real people rather than trained actors - their stories thus meshed in a genuine way, exposing real native issues without even a hint of sugar-coating. Some reviewers felt it was choppy - I experienced it as smooth. Sometimes the poetry was a bit unappealing, but that was, after all, part of what gave teeth to the story. The [perceived choppiness] might have been a response as part of the actuality of the rez experience and the "Indian' world view, along with the social interactivity of the personalities of Aristotle, Seymour, Mouse, and the rest. It's clearly not a defect of the screenwriting or the direction of the film. The film has a wonderful pace and rhythm throughout. Yes, the content is intentionally disturbing - then again maybe not intentionally - in the sense that it's not a contrivance, it doesn't come off that way. It's more the way things could/would naturally move and develop given the circumstances - there's nothing even remotely implausible here. An unstated theme is the way the scenes seem to reel around - so much like the experience of fancy dancing. This style of powwow dancing/costuming that was at its height around the time the principals in this story would have been coming of age. (Currently - grass dancing for boys and young men, and jingle dancing for girls and young women - are the newer, more prevalent styles). And we can't forget one of the fiddle pieces Mouse intermittently plays (along with the classical and emotionally wrenching distillations of powwow or medicine songs) - it sounds like a reel to me, maybe even the famous Virginia Reel. In a most essential way, the collection of intermittent fancy dance sequences and related songs and recitations - always filmed in darkness, as if in an imaginative sphere/space - this is an underlying modus operandi of the story and of its depiction. Mouse's violin improvisations are a wonder to behold. Some of the imaginative sequences with him and Seymour or Aristotle were brilliant cross-cultural and/or intensely revealing re-inventions of the traditional native performance practices. And there is some of the best improvisational-style singing I have heard in any genre - even to the point of surpassing many of the better flamenco singers. Aristotle [in both his singing and his acting] was particularly skillful at portraying every emotional nuance, from searing intensity to the subtle, profoundly spiritual - such that the experiences depicted may be felt to jump right out from the screen and to swirl around the viewer. And it's part of who the actor is depicting that he is totally fluid - uncanny, almost unpredictable in the way he moves from one state to the next - a thorough master like Coyote [the trickster god/goddess], and never ever unconvincing. And finally - to the credit of the project as a whole, special effects are never overly blatant, which is the way one should proceed when glimpsing this culture where everything is as it seems. (Yeah right, there's always something seething just beneath the surface, just before the next event is to occur.) This is not one person's story, but is rather a collection of anecdotal knowledge, visionary gleanings, where oftentimes one person's dream fades into another's reality, and wondering are they the same? There are some astounding depictions of shared experiences of two or more people, more candid and potent than the average well-scrubbed Hollywood actors ever come close to reaching into. Witness the brief love scenes; and one of the deleted scenes, where Aristotle and Mouse's blonde ex-girlfriend are having a long conversation - call it a confrontation. And when the women sing, solo or in pairs/ensembles!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: I Really *Wanted* To Like This One
Review: Its funny writing a review for something that is not on DVD or on VHS or for sale at Amazon. But, that has not stopped others from doing so. I adore Sherman Alexie. His books are dreamlike, brutal, poetic, scary, raw, and never dull. He, himself is a wonderful storyteller, funny, honest, and, again, never dull. This film, however, is often dull. There are some messages in it that constitute a good story - the protagonist's difficult, but justifiable decision to leave the rez and his native culture, the toll substance abuse takes on his friends and family, the isolation of the artist, and issues of racism. However, those elements were thin...very thin... and I struggled (because of my fondness for Alexie) to hold those thoughts through the very long silences (doesn't work in movies or theater), bits that were repeated all too often...and the disjointed bits of dialogue with people who don't add to the story. The characters were flat. Joseph Aristotle was just [mad] all the time. The white people were just cardboard cutouts as a backdrop to Seymour's wonderfulness. The interviewer was flat and cranky and did not have a point, other than to be flat and cranky. Seymour had motivation, but none of the others did, and a movie has to be real to itself and all the characters, however minor, need a backstory to be more than just cardboard cutouts. There are rules for filmmaking that were broken, but not to good effect. In a good film, you don't repeat information, you don't leave dead space on screen, and you follow the rule, "Show, don't tell." This film was way too expository. The basis for the film is Alexie's poetry. I suspected the film was really a showcase for the poetry and the plot was thrown together to justify getting it on screen. If you like Alexie and want to see a good story on screen, get "Smoke Signals". But, if you really like Alexie and want to enjoy him at his best, get all of his books. Scoop 'em up by the fistful, eh?
Rating:
Summary: Five frybread rating!
Review: Poetically intriguing! I am sure Alexie will be criticized for showing the ugly side of reservation life along with the beauty, but this film sticks with you. It addresses all the angles. It shows the intra-tribal prejudice that happens when someone leaves the rez and becomes successful, and the ones who could have, but chose not to. The images of childhood innocence woven with gasoline huffing and Lysol sandwiches are sad and beautiful at the same time. The great dialog, Alexie's writing, great casting and cinematography make this all around good. It has more "meat" than Smoke Signals, I highly recommended it.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable cinematic masterpiece
Review: Sherman Alexie, one of my favorite writers, wrote and directed a brilliant debut. The performances are moving and beautiful, and at the same time haunting. Alexie directed this like a composer would a beautiful, tragic suite. I found myself laughing and crying, and also thinking about the universal concept of identity while watching this film. It doesn't matter if you are from the Rez, or from NYC. Returning to your home after breaking away is hard for all of us--especially if rejection is inevitable. I think this is definitely a groundbreaking film. I don't say this simply because Alexie is a Native writer, filmmaker, producer and director. I say this because the film is a brilliant examination of the human condition, done in an unaffected, realistic and straightforward way. What are we left with when we stand at the crossroads between two identities and cultures? Can we ever go back home?
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable cinematic masterpiece
Review: Sherman Alexie, one of my favorite writers, wrote and directed a brilliant debut. The performances are moving and beautiful, and at the same time haunting. Alexie directed this like a composer would a beautiful, tragic suite. I found myself laughing and crying, and also thinking about the universal concept of identity while watching this film. It doesn't matter if you are from the Rez, or from NYC. Returning to your home after breaking away is hard for all of us--especially if rejection is inevitable. I think this is definitely a groundbreaking film. I don't say this simply because Alexie is a Native writer, filmmaker, producer and director. I say this because the film is a brilliant examination of the human condition, done in an unaffected, realistic and straightforward way. What are we left with when we stand at the crossroads between two identities and cultures? Can we ever go back home?
Rating:
Summary: UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE
Review: The first key is to first face the issues. Before you can do that you must admit these issues exist. Sherman helps bring these issues up front, in your face. I find in talking to people about this film, the ones that do NOT like it are homophobics. People also have a hard time watching two Indians beat up a white guy. But these things happen every day. We are not painted red men sitting on a pony. We are all human, and Sherman shows us in all our glory, pettiness, anger, desperation, and most private moments.
The interviewer was the woman I didn't like. I didn't "get" her purpose. In talking to my girlfriend she said we're not supposed to like her, that my girlfriend has seen white people talking to me in this manner. The interviewer is every non-Indian that wants to put the Indian in their place. Knowing this helps when you watch the movie.
I find Gene, Evan, Swil and Michelle breaking all the stereotypes. They are mixed blood, they are gay, they are recovering alcoholics, they are amazing musicians, teachers, and you want to love them for all they are and all they are not.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent film with a few rough edges
Review: This film is much sharper, satirical and real than Alexie's first text to video adaptation Smoke Signals. So if you liked Smoke Signals, certain themes are carried over and one of the actors, Evan (Thomas Builds-A-Fire) come to Business of Fancydancing. However, don't expect obvious and repitious themes. Alexie has chosen to mimic the episodic format of his poetry to the film and the themes are centered around more of a cyclical than linear format. Overall, an excellent film. The DVD edition is particularly wonderful for its deleted scenes and the option to have commentary by Sherman Alexie and Evan running throughout the film--I would suggest watching it after you've seen the film.
Rating:
Summary: Not good
Review: This movie was really bad, one of the worst movies I've ever seen. What was the point ? Native American self loathing, Gay Native American self loathing. Who cares !!!!
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