The Business of Fancydancing
by Sherman Alexie
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Evan Adams, Gene Tagaban, Michelle St. John, Rebecca Carroll, Swil KanimDirector: Sherman Alexie
Brand: Genius
Writer: Sherman Alexie
Producer: Bradford Bond
Producer: Christy Cox
Producer: Craig Markey
Producer: Daniel Armstrong
Producer: John Benear
Producer: Larry Estes
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-08
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Fox Lorber
Movie Reviews of The Business of Fancydancing
Movie Review: 2 worlds (or maybe 3, or 4 or...)
Summary: 5 Stars
So very Sherman Alexie. So brilliantly creative. So indie filmmaking at its best. I'll warn you that this will not everyone's cuppa bitter root tea--about as far from Hollyweird as you can get...so if you don't like non-Hollyweird films, don't expect the usual and you may still enjoy this. (Caveat: I rather like Hollyweird...just not all the time.) I would call it the best film about poetry and living in two worlds I've ever seen, but I like poetry and live in two worlds. Still, you might like it even if you don't like poetry or live in two worlds. (Although you have to have gone to a poetry reading or author lecture in a white university or artsy fartsy literary venue to fully appreciate the hilarious intercut scenes of Seymour doing his schtick.) I don't quite know how to say it, but this film totally captured (at least for me) the fear of any artist/writer/etc who leaves where they came from and writes/makes art about their people and is celebrated as an outsider but is never accepted for what they want to be accepted for at home... of being found out as an impostor or being not-accepted by their people in that role. I used to call this my My Name is Asher Lev fear (although I admit never finishing that book), and now I think I have to call it my Seymour Polatkin Fear. (Maybe that makes no sense. eh.)
Anyway. If you dig Evan Adams, he's prit-ty awesome as a Gay Urban Indian Poet...yep. One thing I would want to point out, though, is that even though this film is often categorized as a Gay/Lesbian film and even won some related award, I would not label it like that at all. Yes, the main character is gay, and even as inherently navel-gazing as poetry is (and Evan's Seymour character is), this isn't about gay identity angst (in my opinion). And I don't know who put the tag in here, but I'm sorry, this isn't about 'interracial homoerotica.' I wouldn't want to label it with any other Blockbuster label, but if I had to, I'd say it's a really, really Good Indian Movie about people.
I don't know what took me so long to see this...when it came out and run through the festival circuit I remember trying to get the university theater to run it, and it never worked out. But I bought the soundtrack then, worth it if only for Michelle St. John and Jennifer Kriesberg (the high-voiced chica from Ulali) singing one of the most beautiful songs ever to end a movie with)...but the 49's and Swil Kanam's stuff with Gene Tabagan is awesome, too. It was great to finally see the context of the songs.
Summary of The Business of Fancydancing
While in college, Spokane Reservation best friends Aristotle and Seymour took different paths. Aristotle went back to "the rez," while Seymour began a new life for himself as an openly gay poet. Sixteen years later, the two are reunited, but mutual feelings of hurt and resentment stand in the way of their friendship.As seen in this ambitious low-budget feature, The Business of Fancydancing can be very tricky indeed. Shot on digital video, the directorial debut of novelist-poet Sherman Alexie is both profound and problematic, embracing the emotional legacy of Alexie's Native American heritage (and the rich layers of his literary work) while displaying the stylistic pitfalls of a first-time effort. What emerges, most effectively, is the bicultural identity crisis faced by many Native Americans--in this case a celebrated gay poet named Seymour (played by Evan Adams, costar of the Alexie-scripted Smoke Signals) whose ambitions transcend the "Rez" (reservation) where he was raised. Though occasionally hobbled by amateur performances, this is a deeply moving drama about reconciling one's birthright with a quest for new horizons, and Alexie poses difficult questions without settling on trite or convenient answers. For anyone who has ever felt removed from their cultural background, this Business offers a resonant ring of truth. --Jeff Shannon
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