I felt bad to rank this at a "three." The score is beautiful, cinematography expansive (for an independent film), and the story is solid. Two significant problems are the film's direction and more than anything its brevity.
At first, I thought the title character, Mak'wa/Michael, was poorly cast both as a child, and then as an adult. The vocal fry and staginess of both actors were incredibly disruptive. That this isn't a problem of either young or adult actor's abilities becomes clear in the few scenes where they're allowed to deviate from a breathy Clint Eastwood "make my day" voice.
Tedd-o, Mak'wa's friend, is infinitely more interesting. He speaks in a natural voice and is more interesting than Mak'wa because, as a minor character says, "So what" if he spent ten years in prison? He's a good guy. Beyond belief is that his climactic confrontation with a person from his and Mak'wa's mutual past begins--and then is totally elided. The climax of the film is edited out, and we skip to another major confrontation.
I realized before renting "Wild Indian" a film so brief would have difficulty developing a single character, let alone characters. But "Wild Indian" develops nothing. The majority of IMDB user revew criticism had to do with running-time. Considering Jesse Eisenberg's role as producer and Sundance's participation--and more than anything, considering the ways another half-hour could have turned this into a not-to-be-missed--I'm left with the perhaps unironic impression all Native American artists involved were cheated mightily.
"Wild Indian" is worth seeing. It would have been worth seeing even more if it had been funded to allow the running-time it deserved and Good versus Evil had been addressed. The overall impression of "Wild Indian" is that it fits the Short Film genre, and that's unforgivable.
At first, I thought the title character, Mak'wa/Michael, was poorly cast both as a child, and then as an adult. The vocal fry and staginess of both actors were incredibly disruptive. That this isn't a problem of either young or adult actor's abilities becomes clear in the few scenes where they're allowed to deviate from a breathy Clint Eastwood "make my day" voice.
Tedd-o, Mak'wa's friend, is infinitely more interesting. He speaks in a natural voice and is more interesting than Mak'wa because, as a minor character says, "So what" if he spent ten years in prison? He's a good guy. Beyond belief is that his climactic confrontation with a person from his and Mak'wa's mutual past begins--and then is totally elided. The climax of the film is edited out, and we skip to another major confrontation.
I realized before renting "Wild Indian" a film so brief would have difficulty developing a single character, let alone characters. But "Wild Indian" develops nothing. The majority of IMDB user revew criticism had to do with running-time. Considering Jesse Eisenberg's role as producer and Sundance's participation--and more than anything, considering the ways another half-hour could have turned this into a not-to-be-missed--I'm left with the perhaps unironic impression all Native American artists involved were cheated mightily.
"Wild Indian" is worth seeing. It would have been worth seeing even more if it had been funded to allow the running-time it deserved and Good versus Evil had been addressed. The overall impression of "Wild Indian" is that it fits the Short Film genre, and that's unforgivable.