Mini-review of Barking Water

American Indian Film Festival

By Michael FoxCloser to home, the festival closes with Sterlin Harjo's deeply felt, Oklahoma-set indie feature Barking Water. A bittersweet, late-in-life trek that, unfortunately, covers more geographical territory than spiritual or narrative, the story begins with an orderly springing the terminally ill Frankie (Richard Ray Whitman) from the hospital. His erstwhile lady love, Irene (Casey Camp-Horinek), waits in the parking lot to ferry him to a rendezvous and (hopefully) reconciliation with his estranged daughter and her newborn.

Frankie has a few stops he wants to make first, and the stage is set for a succession of low-key, ambiguous reunions. We get the gist of his and Irene's lengthy up-and-down relationship through flashbacks, mostly, imbuing the narrative with understated yet soulful notes of regret, hurt, forgiveness and love. Barking Water suffers from uneven performances and an underwritten script; Harjo relies a bit too much on the plaintive, six-string musings of various indie singer-songwriters to fill the soundtrack and supply the words. And yet, despite those weaknesses, we feel as we're been granted entrée to a largely invisible subculture.Comment:  For more on Barking Water, see Barking Water Trailer and Barking Water at Sundance. For more on Native movies in general, see The Best Indian Movies.