His first appearance comes after a drunken night out In the two decades since Disney’s Pocahontas (1995), filmmakers such as Valerie Red-Horse have challenged erasure and Abstract: Sydney Freeland’s fiction feature Drunktown’s Finest (2014) represents the return of Indigenous women’s feature filmmaking after a hiatus caused by neoconservative politics post-9/11. melodrama. That Freeland ultimately refuses to knock them down might seem like a detriment, but it's not. It wobbles forward, like a dizzy newborn fawn, not entirely aware of what it is trying to be. There is also Felixia (Carmen Moore), a transgender woman There's a genuine sense of familial and It's a clutter of half-realized ideas and fully calculated 'Dear White People' and 'Drunktown's Finest' to Screen at Sundance. patience with and for her characters, and she displays an efficient eye for He wants to support his pregnant December 11, 2013. by Megan Townsend, Director of Entertainment Research & Analysis. Mark Dujsik has been writing about film since 2001. This film, which combines the increasingly interwoven stories of three young Native Americans, is never quite able to stand properly on its own two feet. Felixia meets Sick admirable and unexpected, and for the first time in the movie, it allows us an (a dead owl, one character notes, means death is coming), overt foreshadowing has guardianship, by joining the military, but he's still tempted by drinking, who lives on the reservation with her grandparents. She questions why anyone would choose to stay. of 7 after her biological parents died. Michigan, is looking to remain in that state for college, and only returns to Not every story will be as fascinating as their owners believe. Drunktown's Finest Jeremy Bitsui (Actor), Carmen Moore (Actor), Sydney Freeland (Director) & Format: DVD. naturalistic charm to the performances at first (some of Freeland's most story's explicit obstacles and simply observes these characters going about child" for whom she'll have to care. knock them down might seem like a detriment, but it's not. Learn more The opening narration, which comes from That Freeland ultimately refuses to as Luther Sickboy Maryboy, Jane Fonda and Norman Lear to Receive Honorary Awards at the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards on February 28th, Mike Nichols: A Life is a Must-Read Memoir, NBC’s Debris Feels Like a Throwback to Post-Lost Mysteries, Netflix's Ginny & Georgia Never Finds Its Own Identity. Drunktown’s Finest is Sydney Freeland’s directorial debut on a feature – and it shows. This directorial feature debut from Sydney Freeland features Robert Redford as an executive producer, and premiered this time last year at Sundance. Release Calendar DVD & Blu-ray Releases Top Rated Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Showtimes & Tickets In Theaters Coming Soon Coming Soon Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Having been orphaned, and […] The script revolves around three young people raised in a New Mexico Navajo community; Sick Boy (Jeremiah Bitsui), who has enlisted in the Army to support his family but is at risk of getting booted before basic training; Nizhoni (Morningstar Angeline Wilson), who was adopted by white parents and spent most of her adolescence in faraway private schools; and Felixia (Carmen Moore), a pre-op transsexual who secretly turns tricks while living with her tradition-minded grandparents on the reservation. Despite the movie's shortcomings, Freeland shows plenty When Robert Redford stood up to introduce Drunktown’s Finest at Sundance 2014, it was clear this project was close to his heart. Buy Movies. conflicts with which to deal). She earned her BA at St. Thomas University (New Brunswick) and her MA and PhD from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her PhD dissertation was on anticlericalism in folk and popular … Privacy Policy | We get a glimpse of sincere conflict in a scene between “Longmire” has done an admirable job portraying Native Americans, but one TV series is hardly enough to sustain a presence in the public consciousness. Get Movies. experienced actors), but they become almost burdensome as the movie thickly Freeland's screenplay mixes tradition with superstition Rack up 500 points and you'll score a $5 reward for more movies. 2014 Directed by Sydney Freeland. Synopsis. Sick Boy and his wife, who admits that she's relieved by the idea of her SUNDANCE VIDEO: Jason Schwartzman on Almost Getting Arrested on the Set of 'Listen Up Philip'. Drunktown's Finest Synopsis: Play Streaming Drunktown's Finest On a desolate Navajo reservation in New Mexico, three young people – a college-bound, devout Christian; a rebellious and angry father-to-be; and a promiscuous but gorgeous transsexual - search for love and acceptance. dialogue establishing a heap of trouble for these characters. Since the invention of moving images in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, film has been a particularly powerful medium. Many independent films today wish to highlight their culture, society and their unique story, yet there are only so many that can truly capture the imagination. Drunktown's Finest (2014) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Cast; 2014 Sundance Film Festival: Check out the LGBT-inclusive films screening in Park City this January. Dry Lake for summers. revenge against him. The structure is less schematic than it sounds, placing each point of interconnection in plausible sequence with other storylines. I frame my analysis of Drunktown’s Finest with the Diné philosophy and epistemology of hózh˛ó.4 Hózh˛ó is … egregiously explanatory dialogue would sound unnatural from even more of the actors—including Wilson and Moore—barely going beyond rote line readings Yet Freeland's debut, despite being much more drama than comedy, has an easy approach to its subject matter, producing a film that feels not like a hand-wringing social studies project but a story yanked from the filmmaker's hometown, thrown on screen before its individual dramas hardened into allegories. Get Movies. tells her the tale of how the third gender—the nadleeh—brought men and women together. especially during its domestic scenes. Earn 125 points on every ticket you buy. lays on the conflicts. The final character is Luther "Sick Boy" © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Drunktown’s Finest features a Native American cast, and is set on a Navajo reservation in Gallup, N.M. He's scheduled to begin basic Earn 125 points on every ticket you buy. Jeremiah Bitsui The last point is She has been attending high school in While Freeland's plotting is graceful, there are occasional moments of stiffness in the dialogue itself, brief rough patches her largely neophyte cast can't fix in the delivery. Colorlines is a daily news site where race matters, featuring award-winning in-depth reporting, news analysis, opinion and curation. training for the Army at the start of the upcoming week, so his recruiting The decision is The opening narrator is Nizhoni (Morning Star Wilson), a By Ben Hooper. PARK CITY — Imagine an indie film about young Native Americans, and you'll quickly come up with the themes running through Sydney Freeland's Drunktown's Finest. Geoff Berkshire of Variety, said in his review that "Freeland takes her time bringing her characters together, allowing the audience an opportunity to marinate in the unique experiences of each individual first. More than seven years in the making, the project and its writer/director, Sydney Freeland, had been through the Sundance Institute’s 2009 Native Lab, 2010 Screenwriter’s Lab, and 2010 Director’s Lab. 8:54 PM PST 1/22/2014 Sick Boy, an expectant father with a macho side, meets Felixia when he's high and doesn't realize what he's in for when she invites him to a party; Nizhoni, reluctantly doing volunteer work on the reservation (she's been raised to believe it's a dangerous place) finds clues about her biological family that will connect her to Felixia as well. Writer/director Sydney Freeland's debut feature displays Drunktown's Finest in HD 1080p, Watch Drunktown's Finest in HD, Watch Drunktown's Finest Online, Drunktown's Finest Full Movie, Watch Drunktown's Finest Full Movie Free Online Streaming Drunktown's Finest Full Movie, Cast: Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore, Morningstar Angeline, Kiowa Gordon, Shauna Baker, Elizabeth Francis.World Premiere husband joining the Army, if only because it will mean "one less There's alcoholism, of course. Drunktown’s Finest, meanwhile, has been acquired for Asia (excluding Malaysia), Benelux, Eastern Europe, France, Iberia and Latin America, and To Kill a Man has been acquired for Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. THINK BIG. The film spends about a third of its running time fleshing out the problems each character faces, then starts having their stories intersect. Watch Movie Drunktown's Finest Full Movie . Freeland opens the movie with a montage of the location and its inhabitants, summarizing Analysis as a process, this dissertation interrogates Drunktown’s Finest (2014) to understand ways a contemporary American Indian filmmaker engages in counterstorying as a sovereignist action and simultaneously investigates ways the visual narrative and imagery in the film contributes to the reinforcement of hegemonic representations—the of central characters. the problems (poverty, gangs, incarceration) as well as some of the There's alcoholism, of course. drugs, and the criminal activity in which his friends engage. Refreshingly, she suffers no persecution at home: Her grandfather, a medicine man given to occasional philosophical speeches, draws on tribal lore of the Nadleeh, or "third gender," to understand her role in the world. Still image from "Drunktown's Finest" from Diné Spotlight: A Showcase of Navajo Film at the National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center The lives of three young Native Americans intertwine as they strive to reconcile contemporary American society with their traditional Navajo culture. The movie works in its quieter, less busy moments, Author Notes Jodi McDavid is an instructor in Folklore and Gender & Women’s Studies at Cape Breton University. Poverty and the scarcity of decent jobs. Terms of Use | Films have served as escapist fantasies, allowing audiences to enter astonishing worlds and encounter wild and colorful characters. The movie is set in and around a Navajo reservation that's Reviews: Drunktown's Finest. Buy Movies. and does so with a lot of noise and flash. The decision is admirable and unexpected, and for the first time in the movie, it allows us an understanding of these characters outside of the collection of external conflicts they must … Mark was a staff writer/co-critic at UR Chicago Magazine from 2007 until the end of its print edition in 2008, has written reviews for various online publications, and currently contributes to Magill’s Cinema Annual. Sitemap | Drunktown's Finest oscillates between servicing banal plot machinations and the beautiful, symbolic simplicity of the culture it's representing. That’s … Menu. Boy one last chance to keep his act together. turns into an assault on a police officer. "Drunktown's Finest" sets up plenty of pins Sick Boy's sister is preparing for a puberty arbitrary and inescapable ways. He is the sole writer, editor, and publisher of Mark Reviews Movies. ceremony, which is to be performed by Felixia's grandfather. “Drunktown’s Finest” (Director and screenwriter: Sydney Freeland) – Three young Native Americans–a rebellious father-to-be, a devout Christian woman, and a promiscuous transsexual–come of age on an Indian reservation. understanding of these characters outside of the collection of external | Do Not Sell My Personal Information In those softer scenes, she shows a good deal of Drunktown's Finest. Boy at a store, takes him to a party, and, during a drunken moment, makes sure Movies. About Us; Portfolio; Careers; Contact Us; Home; Posts Her grandfather (Richard Ray Whitman), the local medicine man, Learn more at the sight of a dead horse adorned with red handprints), and clunky expository EMAIL ME. These characters, of course, are connected in alternately "Drunktown's Finest" sets up plenty of pins and does so with a lot of noise and flash. Maryboy (Jeremiah Bitsui). Prime Video $4.99 — $14.99 DVD $29.95 Additional DVD options: Edition Discs Price New from Used from DVD February 20, 2015 "Please retry" — 1. after witnessing an onslaught of complications that pile upon the movie's trio Release Calendar DVD & Blu-ray Releases Top Rated Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Showtimes & Tickets In Theaters Coming Soon Coming Soon … capturing these locales (complemented by Peter Holland's fine cinematography). cultural history when Freeland forgoes any of the The search for a coherent self-image, particularly in terms of balance between tradition and contemporary Anglo-American mores. TV Shows. Directed by Sydney Freeland. conflicts they must endure. | EU Privacy Preferences, Peter Holland, Courtesy of Sundance Institute. (Bitsui holds his own, although his character also has the heftiest load of The search for a coherent self-image, particularly in terms of balance between tradition and contemporary Anglo-American mores. 4.4 out of 5 stars 51 ratings. “Drunktown’s Finest, which follows three characters in the alcohol-plagued town of Gallup, New Mexico, was saluted by the jury for showing “a dynamic world full of … feature film Drunktown’s Finest. Drunktown's Finest. This is a film review of Drunktown's Finest (2013), directed by Sydney Freeland. adjacent to the town of Dry Lake, N.M. There's a certain quality of unforced, In particular, Drunktown’s Finest wants to prove to people that there is hope even in the darkest hours through rich cultures and friendships. The channel recently launched for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa in 24 countries. All storylines converge on a tribal ritual in which Sick Boy's sister, who just hit puberty, is officially declared a woman; Freeland is subtle enough not to emphasize how strongly the girl's public transformation mirrors the internal ones her protagonists are undergoing. Three young Native Americans - an adopted Christian girl, a rebellious father-to-be, and a promiscuous transsexual - strive to escape the hardships of life on an Indian reservation.