Through Black Spruce

While the story has been cut down to the bare bones, it's still watchable if you haven't read the novel. What's missing in the reduced cast of characters is a spot for Zahn Mclarnon as Annie Bird's protector, Gordon. Graham Greene's role is also cut down to the point that the character isn't recognizable from the one in the book. This is a big, sprawling story with a large cast of characters whittled down below the bare basic story that's still waiting to be told on film. The script was sidetracked into a socially relevant myopia that zooms in on the detail of native women being disappeared. While that is relevant, it isn't the whole picture. To avoid dismissing a good film because it isn't the whole story, let's just agree that more could have been done with the fine novel, "Through Black Spruce".

Most film goers could never understand what it would be like to live in a beautiful yet isolated part of the northern Ontario wilderness, and yet we get to appreciate some of the vastness of the countryside through the lives of the Bird family and the native people of the surrounding lands. The two lead actors Tanaya Beatty (as Annie) and Brandon Oakes (as Will), are rarely seen on the screen together as Annie has chosen to travel to Toronto to see what is happening with her twin sister who has been absent for far longer than ever before. Will on the other hand is dealing with a bunch of drug thugs who want something that the missing twin sister who is supposedly in Toronto working as a fashion model. Will especially reflects a man comfortable living in the northern Ontario wilderness, and unlike you or I who may take a cab or subway to travel around our neighborhood, Will takes a plane. If we want to just chill, we may order in a pizza and hunker down to watch some TV series, Will on the other hand would prefer to cover his naked body in mud, chant, then swim in the remote waters with the local marine life. Annie after arriving in Toronto with limited funds begins to learn more about her twin sisters life and existence as a First Nations woman living in a big city like Toronto. It's an interesting movie with a film style all its own. (Probably because their funds available do not provide the same standard as lets say a Warner Brothers release would have at their disposal). I give the film a respectable and appreciative 7 out of 10 IMDb rating.

Annie Bird is a Cree from Moosonee, northern Ontario. She heads off to Toronto to find her missing twin sister Suzanne who was working as a model in the city. Meanwhile, her uncle Will is being harassed by local thug Marius. The movie is basically split into two seemingly unconnected stories. I like Will's half of the movie. It could have been an interesting indie by itself. Annie's half is a bit of a mixed bag. Its premise promises a mystery thriller into the depths of native presence in the big city. The biggest problem is that one is never sure if Annie is that invested in finding her sister or if she intends on taking her sister's place. This is a murder mystery. The audience shouldn't be more invested in solving the mystery than the character. It holds the movie back until the mystery almost solves itself. In the end, this has enough compelling elements.

I thought this movie was very good. The way they ran two stories at once was interesting. As much as I love Tanaya Beaty, the part with her uncle Will dealing with a bunch of thugs for something he didn't do was done well. I wish Annie's journey had a better outcome, but the ending was satisfying never the less. Regardless how you feel about the story line, the acting is superb.

There are a lot of things about this movie that I thought were good, but overall the movie just plodded along. It was like the story was happening to the characters rather than the characters making the story. In particular Annie just kind of stumbles through the movie, making all sorts of out-of-character decisions, then reverting back to her stoic self a few minutes later, as if the actions never happened. In some cases, she does something and then almost instantly is a different person, with no segue between. Part of that problem is that there is no sense of how long there was between scenes. Did this happen over days, or weeks or even months. No idea. I did like the "First People" aspect, which provided the background for the story. The cadence of the speech and mannerisms seemed very authentic. It was also great showing how the non-First people characters interacted with them. But telling the "first people" story, over-whelmed the actual plot, making a sub-par movie overall.

Oh Where to begin, where to begin. I've been generally interested in Native American/indigenous people's movies - there's so few of them and it seems to give us a glimpse of the American past, however grim it is. And therefore I set out on Black Spruce the first instance. The actors and actresses looked amazing, the scenery was great and the story seemed to have some meat to it - like a proper thriller! The shock eventually sets in - it's slow moving. Really slow. One of the aspects that I noticed immediately and confirmed later was how slow the lead actress speaks, with gestures and facial expressions. At first, I chalked this up to the Cree custom and culture, but it gives an different impression on the lead character - that she is not particularly the smart one, and incapable of dealing with the things that are set out for her, namely solving the disappearance. This should have gone away once the story picked up, and gains steam leading us on a wild chase to the truth..that was my expectation. But, the feeling that the lead actress never matched the demands of the story line never leaves, and leaves us deflated and angry at the end. I beg to ask, why did the makers of this movie demand I spend an hour and a half of my time? Is it because the Tanaya Beatty was a showcase? Did we get to know more about the Cree? Did we solve a crime? Yes, a seemingly bad guy was shot, and that justifies it? I'm sorry, it wasn't just enough!! The feeling that I mentioned above - that she is incapable of solving never leaves and we end of goading and prodding her to do something? Nothing came. The night club scenes were a sham, her interrogation of Geeta, the former room mate reveals nothing, the photographer just ends up whining, the mother is distraught, the lead male is lost - and at the very end I really hoped Brandon Oakes's character would put the button on it after all. Maybe Suzanne came back? And he met her along the way, things went sideways for reasons that were not his fault..yet we see his anguish of losing his family, but nothing else. It could have been a springboard, to save the twins..but that was too much expectation. Overall, great acting, awesome acting, but storyline has no meat in it. What a downer. Nothing to see here, unfortunately. Move on.

I did not like this film one bit and is one of the worst ever in my books. I love Native films in general, but this one was the worst. The plot is so bland, no action and mega boring. I expected a lot more action, as the film's poster and plot suggests. The main character is pointing a rifle. After reading the preview, I thought this would be an action film with lots going on, but it only turned out to be a dud. They based the film on Joseph Boyden's book of the same title. I have a few of Boyden's books, but not this one. Too bad this movie turned out like crap because it is a complete and total failure. Sometimes films are given a lot of hype to get viewers to watch. But this one is clearly not worth the hype. I almost fell asleep and had to stop watching it about eight-tenths of it through. I did like that one scene where that guy who camped at that one place: he did something unique. The bugs and mosquitoes were really bothering him, so he put some bear grease all over his body to keep them away. In real life, many Natives in the old days smeared bear grease all over their bodies to keep the bugs away. That was/is their bug repellent, and it worked/works well. It was good to see Tina Keeper in this one. I always liked her in 'North of 60' as Michele Kenidi. Anyway, this only earns a four out of 10.

I loved the actors, but I feel disappointed in the end of the film. After sitting 4 almost 2 hours waiting 4 Suzanne 2 come out of hiding or turn up dead 4 closure 2 the family. Nothing. Not a dam thing. I wasted 2 hours cause there was no ending.

Not much more left to say that what I titled it as. Overall the acting is good as is the scenery, the story line however, is lacking to say the least, it drags out and extremely boring - thanks goodness for fast forward.

Very surprised by the low rating. Cinematography, acting, story are all excellent especially given the indie budget. Very nice build up and story