Falls Around Her

I had put off seeing this because it looked slow. And it is. I watched it when ready. It's set at the pace of nature and reservation life or felt like it. The shots where nothing happening but life drew me in to Mary's quest to return to the land.

Very interesting and provocative story, fairly familiar I'm afraid, involving once again, native Americans and the downtrodden existence they are both content and seemingly restless in. "Mary" has been uniquely successful with her music and in retiring back to her native land, realizes and seems to accept the encroachment of the unsavory whether that be her abusive ex-manager chasing after her or the mining operations that are poisoning their native American lands. Her support group of women and a couple of men are interesting in having "one foot" in their culture and the other "foot" in contemporary life - needs and traditions that barely sustain them. The acting was what I expected and stayed fairly true to their lifestyle and culture in such a rugged environment where there are few luxuries and eking out an existence constitutes dealing with very inclement weather both scare utilities and limited goods and services. Their camaraderie is touching however and their unification is strong for such a small village of people. Tatoo Cardinal is a fine actress in her element and I've seen her in several movies the past decade where she's had somewhat pivotal roles as a native American. I'm sure this movie isn't exciting enough for many in today's world; but for those of us who have a deep and abiding respect for the culture and history of the native American Indian in various forms, it provides some relief from the repetitious if not shallow storylines that prevail. I enjoyed the story for what it presented from all angles.

I usually enjoy quiet movies, but this one withholds ALL information. At 30 minutes in, I have NO idea why she decided to leave her successful career as a singer and go back to the reservation to live alone and avoid people as much as possible. There has been zero music in it. In the opener she sings a song that has 3 words in it.

I'm patient, but now I'm horribly bored and, I don't care about her, because this film doesn't tell me anything.

It's the most esoteric movie I watched in eons.

I have to stop watching now because I am sooooooooo disengaged. And utterly disinterested. If I watch much longer (3 minutes), I'll start ripping away stars.

Oh. I really wanted to like this!!!

Great film, it pulls you in, and makes the viewer part of figuring out the pieces, following incorrect leads etc.

It starts at a slower pace, which suits the theme and lends it the spirituality it needs.

Some details and pieces of information do not appear to connect to the story line, but serve to paint the complete picture of the roles of each character and the underlying topic of resilience.

Letting the visual speak instead of words makes perfect sense, and is brilliantly presented by the ever so talented Tantoo Cardinal.

Tantoo Cardinal hits the mark for the character, and gives yet again a stellar performance.

This movie is slow, boring, poorly acted and has the feel of a college project. It had me wondering why it was so overrated. Then I realized it's about a First Nation woman so guilt ridden American and Canadian white people felt obligated to overrate. Remove the guilt and be objective: this movie is terrible.