Seymour Polatkin (Evan Adams) is a successful American Indian gay poet who reluctantly returns to the reservation he left 15 years ago to attend the funeral of Mouse (Swil Kanim). "I've had sex with one Indian woman, 112 white boys and two black men," he laughs, "but I've never slept with an Indian man." His former best friend Aristotle Joseph (Gene Tagaban) views him as a pathetic token of his tribe, a "little public relations warrior" who "puts on little beads and feathers for all these white people." The film explores issues that contemporary American Indians face, including cultural assimilation, stereotypes, and substance abuse, with a sometimes strongly symbolic style. There are simple, dream-like interludes of individual characters performing ceremonial dances in complete blackness, and episodes of Seymour reading his poetry aloud.
Indian filmmaker Sherman Alexie (writer of "Smoke Signals"), does a good job of bringing to life the fear, frustration, tension, and bitterness of his cast of characters, as well as the blood ties that bind them together. The movie was shot on digital video and sometimes the image quality is not very good. Music was composed by Mohican composer Brent Michael Davids. The violin solos were composed and performed by Swil Kanim (Mouse), and the film also features Sherman Alexie's poetry, who wrote the screenplay and directed.
Indian filmmaker Sherman Alexie (writer of "Smoke Signals"), does a good job of bringing to life the fear, frustration, tension, and bitterness of his cast of characters, as well as the blood ties that bind them together. The movie was shot on digital video and sometimes the image quality is not very good. Music was composed by Mohican composer Brent Michael Davids. The violin solos were composed and performed by Swil Kanim (Mouse), and the film also features Sherman Alexie's poetry, who wrote the screenplay and directed.
