Black Cloud

I just returned home after seeing this movie at the Boston Film Festival. I really like movies from Independent to blockbusters. I like all types of genres. I really wanted to like this before I saw it, but it really fell short in my mind.

This movie is about a young Native American from the Navajo tribe who fights in and out of the ring. He has a short fuse and struggles with the fact that he has "white" man blood in him. He really hated the white man for what they did to his people and felt like he had tainted blood. He is on a road of destruction if he lets these fears engulf his life. The question is will he build on the good of his life and grow or let these fears destroy him? I guess you will have to check it out if you really want to know.

I didn't mind the movie, but it really wasn't something I was interested in.

There was plenty of pour acting. There were parts of the film that received laughs from the audience even when laughs weren't what they were going for. You see Wayne Knight (Seinfeld's Newman) as a scumbag. I was like, "It's Newman! Man did he loose weight."

Like I stated it's a low budget movie and with that comes many problems. I have a lot of low budget movies in my DVD collection. I just couldn't connect to this one. There were some funny parts. Black Cloud's father and friend (Jimmy) were funny at times. I just think the movie fell short. It was written by, directed by, and starred Ricky Schroder. I hope he does better the next time. This is not a knock to the people who liked the film; I personally did not find it a good one. The small crowd that attended tonight's showing didn't seem to like it much either.

It was great to see a film with such a beautiful backdrop...it seems all I've seen lately are office buildings in dirty cities, so this was literally a breath of fresh air, and I sort of hated to leave the theater and realize, oops, you're back in the big city now... Rick Schroeder has grown up on film, and we all expect a lot from him. I thought he did a good job with the character, and while the film suffered a bit in pace and editing, it more than made up for that by good performances, cinematography, and a nice score. Hope to see better distribution in the future. This one just didn't seem to have time to catch on with audiences. It made me wish for the old days when you'd see two films at a time, and end up liking the second one better. I guess financial gain for theater owners has taken those days away. Too bad, as some of these smaller films could really benefit from such a system. Anybody listening? Perhaps it will be sold in a two-pack DVD that can benefit another movie at the same time.

I saw Black Cloud in Phoenix and liked it very much. Although some people have said the movie contains "stereotypes," I have worked with Indian people over the years and many of them have seen this movie and like it for its fair representation of Indian people in transition from one way of life to another. I heard Russell Means, one of the older Indian actors in the movie, say that he chose to do the script (apparently for not very much money!) because he felt it was an honest depiction of Indian people and the challenges they face. If Indian people are OK with it, I don't know why anybody else should have a problem. I especially liked seeing talented young Indian actors have a chance to show their stuff. I think both Eddie Spears and Julia Jones have great potential, and I hope to see more of them in future. I was impressed with the technical values of the movie--photography and editing, plus the music. For a first-time director, I think Rick Schroder did a terrific job.

This movie is definitely worth seeing. It is a very interesting mix of "Rocky" meets a "Western". A friend of mine saw the film in Montana last week and told me the crowd was blown away as well. I heard they made it for a million bucks. WOW. Tim McGraw is very good as the sheriff. Rick Schroder has ton's of talent as a writer and a big future directing. He was just nominated for a CMA award for best country music video. The girl is hot in the movie. I give it a big thumbs up. Peter Greene is the best I have ever seen him. He was the guy in the mask. Wayne Knight plays a creepy part as a pervert and is totally believable. The cinematography is incredible and the boxing scenes the most realistic I have ever seen.

I saw this movie last night at the Nashville Film Festival. It was a surprisingly good movie. Young Lakota actor, Eddie Spears, does an excellent job with the lead as "Black Cloud." Russell Means, his boxing mentor "Bud", is wonderful. This movie evokes obvious parallels to the original "Rocky" but has a lot more depth regarding the young man's personal demons and his place within his Native American heritage and the problems of the modern reservation.

The movie is romantic, inspiring, funny and sad and delivers many truths about reservation life and the challenges of Indians who want to rise above the difficulties they face. Rick Schroder's screenplay is very good.

Steve Gainer's cinematography is stunning. There are some wonderful scenes of horses and the outdoor beauty of the Navajo Reservation.

Julia Jones, as Sammi, is convincing and a real cutie.

Country singer Tim McGraw debuts in this film as the Sheriff. He is good in the role.

Some of McGraw's songs are in the movie and, one is delivered very humorously in a Karaoke scene. The end credits roll behind Pat Green's "Wave on Wave."

Schroder is a "bad guy" in this movie and did a convincing job. He revealed he stepped into that role at the last minute because the original choice for the part was a rodeo cowboy with no experience who apparently "froze" when they were trying to shoot his parts.

The acting is quite good even though many of the actors are young and unknown to most audiences.

Rick Schroder was present at the screening I saw. He and Eddie Spears, Julia Jones and Director of Photography Steve Gainer graciously answered questions from the audience following the screening. They all showed considerable class and humility. I was very glad to have been to see the movie and heard the principals discuss their roles more in depth.

Schroder mentioned this movie was made for about a million dollars which is ridiculously low by Hollywood standards. The high quality of the finished movie does not reflect its modest budget and Schroder says that is because it was a labor of love by the participants. It is obvious he is right.

I highly recommend this movie.