By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Sanjay Patel
Starring: Adam Beach | Carmen Moore | Graham Greene | Simon Baker | Tanaya Beatty
Year: 2025
Running time: 102
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21934610
Michael says: “I enjoyed this tale of two brothers struggling with their native identity when thrown into a battle to reclaim their inheritance after their father leaves it to the native community living in the northern Canadian town of Bird. The greedy, angry young men learn about their heritage and the father in a somewhat awkwardly-penned screenplay that starts off a bit stiff, but loosens up and fills with genuine emotion, largely thanks to star Adam Beach (SMOKE SIGNALS, DANCE ME OUTSIDE).
“Writer/director Sanjay Patel takes a true story and puts it on screen as a nice, complex look at how having a native heritage doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. It comes form a more nuanced place that many, similar stories, but there’s an awkwardness to the writing that makes the opening quarter a little messy. Once the pair leave Toronto and travel to the rural town of Bird, things slowly start to coalesce and real emotion starts to build into the story, even as it flirts with somewhat heavy-handed tropes. Older brother Adam (Beach) starts off the more obnoxious of the two, but his arc ends up being more engrossing and manages to rise above some of the cliches that are thrown at him. Beach really does a great job. Simon Baker’s Ryan doesn’t fare quite as well, but holds up his end of the story. Nice to see Graham Greene in what must have been one of, if not the last film roles he performed. 3 cats
“Streaming on Amazon Prime.”