Drunktown's Finest

[ed_jaxon]

Did not see any thread dedicated to this but wanted to see if anyone had seen this movie.

Was shown at Sundance and is making the rounds of the various festivals.

Trailer looks interesting so I will check it out if it hits Chicago.

[tao1kiku]

Three young Native Americans - an adopted Christian girl, a rebellious father-to-be, and a promiscuous transsexual - strive to escape the hardships of life on an Indian reservation.

[fred41]

Did not see any thread dedicated to this but wanted to see if anyone had seen this movie.

Was shown at Sundance and is making the rounds of the various festivals.

Trailer looks interesting so I will check it out if it hits Chicago.


If you had posted this last month I would've seen it at MoMA - apparently they had a screening in July..
Oh well, will definitely keep an eye out for it.
Thanks for the thread Ed.

[ed_jaxon]

The trailer for the film. Looks good.

Drunktown's Finest Trailer (Official) on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/100159394)

[maxpower]

Thanks, Ed. Here's a clip from the film that features Carmen.


Drunktown's Finest Clip - Sundance 2014 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9j04Zc-yEQ)

[Odelay]

Wendy Williams had started a thread on this movie almost a year ago when they were usinig kickstarter to get the final funding they needed to finish it.

http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=81812&highlight=drunktowns

Once it reached critical mass, it would appear that Robert Redford jumped into the project as an Exec Producer. It's playing in Santa Fe this weekend so I think I'll take a little road trip and post a review - no spoilers, of course.

[ed_jaxon]

Wendy is always on top of things.

[Odelay]

** No Spoilers below **

Took a ride to Santa Fe and caught this movie. An extra bennie was that the writer/director and the main male actor, Jeremiah Bitsui, were on hand to answer questions afterwards. Sadly, the divine Carmen Moore was not there.

I watched a significant amount of independent films back in the 80's and 90's. Since 2000, not so much. And I have to say this film takes me back to some of the simple stories that were being told in the 80's and 90's. And the obvious comparison is Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals from 1998. And actually, it stands up pretty well next to Smoke Signals, which is high praise, in my book.

I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the story here, but was pleasantly surprised. The story is both solid and tight, and hits the right chords throughout. The other surprise was the humor. The characters deliver a lot of funny one liners. The trailer shown in this thread, focuses on the drama and conflict, but the movie is really much lighter than what the trailer depicts.

I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that Carmen is part of a 2 character scene toward the end of the movie that is really beautiful and brings together the themes of the movie. I think Carmen did a solid acting job in this movie. I do believe she was convincing as the character she played.

I also believe it's a movie that the transgender community can generally be proud of. It's an interesting juxtaposition of the challenges and oppression faced by two minorities, Native Americans and the Transgender community.

The whole time watching the main actor I kept thinking the guy was very familiar. Afterwards when they were introducing him they mentioned he played "Victor" in Breaking Bad. And then I remembered, he was the poor schlub that Gus Fring fileted right in front of Walt and Jesse.

Between the story, the humor and Carmen Moore, this should be an easy watch for most of the folks in this forum.

Go see the movie, if or when it comes to a theatre near you. The director says it's being released across 20 cities in France, already, so you Brits might get it in London at some point.

[Odelay]

Screenings near you, or maybe not...

UPCOMING SCREENINGS



September 3,6 & 7 Jean Cocteau Cinema – Santa Fe, NM (http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/film/drunk-towns-finest/)
September 18-25 Reeling LGBT Film Fest – Chicago, IL (http://reelingfilmfestival.org/)
September 19-24 Oslo Skeive Filmer Film Fest – Oslo, Norway (http://reelingfilmfestival.org/)
September 25-27 Nativisions Film Festival – Parker, AZ (https://www.facebook.com/nativevisions2013)
October 3-12 Mix Copenhagen LGBT Film Fest – Copenhagen, DK (http://www.mixcopenhagen.dk/)
October 19 Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Fest – Seattle, WA (http://www.threedollarbillcinema.org/programs/SLGFF)
October 9-13 Scottsdale Film Festival – Scottsdale, AZ (http://www.scottsdalefilmfestival.com/)
October 18 Golden Orange Festival – Antalya,Turkey (http://www.altinportakal.org.tr/)
October 16-25 Heartland Film Festival – Indianapolis, IN (http://heartlandfilm.org/festival/)
October 16-26 Milwaukee LGBT Film Fest – Milwaukee, WI (http://www4.uwm.edu/psoa/film/lgbtfilmfestival/)
October 22-26 Imagine Native – Toronto, ON (http://www.imaginenative.org/home/)
October 24 UCLA Film and TV Archive – Los Angeles, CA (http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/)
November 6-9 Virginia Film Fest – Charlottesville, VA (http://www.virginiafilmfestival.org/)
November 7-9 Citizen Jane Film Fest – Colombia, MO (http://citizenjanefilmfestival.org/)

[ed_jaxon]

Thanks for the heads up Odelay!

I will check it out in a couple of weeks.

[fred41]

This was linked to Drunktown's finest facebook page...other trans oriented films to keep an eye out for:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/bent/7-trans-films-from-the-summer-film-festival-circuit-that-you-must-see-20140813?page=1#blogPostHeaderPanel

[giovanni_hotel]

Awesome!!! It's always great to see TS women PLAYING TS women in mainstream cinema.

Congrats to Carmen!!!

[ed_jaxon]

So I went and saw the movie last night and I thought it was pretty good.

Carmen did a great job and came off as very believable in her role. She can act. The story was pretty good and with the exception of the ending which was just a bit too upbeat for me, I would recommend this movie.