THERE'S A PLACE FOR US // A FILM REVIEW OF "DRUNKTOWN'S FINEST"
"A place to leave, not to live." So says Nizhoni (Morning Star Wilson), the young narrator who leads us into the small town near Dry Lake New Mexico, part of a Navajo reservation. She's one of the three Native American characters whose story we follows. The other two include Sick-Boy (Jeremiah Bitsui), a young man who's in and out of trouble with the law and has one last shot to straighten up his life. There's also Felixia (Carmen Moore), a transgender woman living with her parents and prostituting on the side. Writer/Director Sydney Freeland explores how each of their stories intersects and spiral into sometimes painful ways in his directorial debut DRUNKTOWN'S FINEST.
Wilson plays Nizhoni, a young woman who's adopted white mother works at a local hospital and prescribes her meds to help her calm down and sleep. She's in the middle of community service for college and is quietly searching for her birthparents. Felixia (Moore), in addition to prostituting herself to pay the bills, wants to audition for the "Women of Navajo Calendar." She's proud of who she is, as is her parents, who in a wonderful change of pace, fully support her and who's only concern is that she's not hurt (they don't, however, know about her nightly visitors). And finally Sick-Boy (Bitsui) has run into the law one too many times. He's a week away from joining the Army and after a run in with a local cop is given one last chance to straighten up. He's supporting his pregnant wife and sister, but ends up back with his old bad crowd and follows Felixia to a party after coming onto her at a grocery store.
What's refreshing in Freeland's film is how none of the characters fall into stereotypes, but still embrace old traditions of their Native customs (seeing an Owl as a bad sign, a sign of death, and the local Medicine Man telling a story of how he thought he was watching a morning star but was really watching a plane is a standout moment). The characters are interesting and the tone is there, but what hurts Freeland's film often is bad acting, specifically from the supporting characters. To say that many of them are simple doing "straight line readings" is an understatement. Wambli Eagleman, as Felixia's sassy friend, is especially terrible. However, there are some solid performances here, notably Jeremiah Bitsui's conflicted Sick-Boy and Morning Star Wilson has some lovely moments. Carmen Moore is not terrible, but a stronger actress would have made the role really sing.
Thought the film definitely has its flaws, Drunktown's Finest is an interesting film, harking back to the early days of the indie movement, and shows real promise in writer/director Sydney Freeland. It's also exciting to see a story of Native Americans told simply as a community of people, going through the same hardships everyone goes through. I'm excited to see what she comes up with next.
MATEO'S GRADE: B-
Written and Directed by Sydney Freeland Starring Morning Star Wilson, Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Shows strong promise, but stilted acting drags the film down.
MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconcious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.