Reviews of Winter in the Blood

Winter in the Blood: LAFF Review

By David RooneyThe Bottom Line

An honorable if only intermittently satisfying attempt to access a journey that takes place almost entirely inside the protagonist's head.

Chaske Spencer of "The Twilight Saga" stars in twin brothers Alex & Andrew Smith's adaptation of Native American writer James Welch's 1974 novel.

There’s no questioning the profound personal investment and deep connection to the wide-open spaces of Montana that grace Alex & Andrew Smith’s Winter in the Blood, the twin brothers’ first feature since their brooding 2002 coming-of-age drama The Slaughter Rule. But in remaining true to the spirit of Native American writer James Welch’s landmark 1974 novel, they have not succeeded in solving the central problem of how to render in emotionally involving narrative terms a fundamentally page-bound, internalized story.

An obvious labor of love, this hand-crafted film is beautifully made–photographed, scored and edited with a grubby lyricism that makes its shortage of plot momentum all the more frustrating. However, admirers of Welch’s books about Native American life, exploring the struggle to maintain cultural, ancestral and physical ties to the past while navigating a way forward, will find rewards in the drama’s cumulatively affecting final stretch.LA Film Fest 2013 Review: WINTER IN THE BLOOD Captures The True Western Spirit

By Dylan SharpThe film taps into the mythology of the Plains Indian to subvert the generic Western. This Indian's a cowboy who'd rather hide than conquer. He spends the whole movie looking for his broken gun. The mind's frontier may be more dangerous than the range, but at least he has tradition (the 'chock cherries' he provides for the elders to smoke out of long pipes) to bring a sense of peace.

Between the nostalgia and the tragedy, you'd be forgiven for feeling a little stifled. Welch's novel came out in 1974. This film, for all intents and purposes, could have come out in 1974 as well. It uses that era's sweeping aesthetic and tragic, freedom-seeking characters to create an experience that feels old--and not in an entirely pleasant way either. I found myself asking throughout the film, "But what about now? Has anything changed?" Perhaps in Montana things haven't changed that much. But the themes of our stories have changed slightly and these days there's something about the source material that seems to portray tribal misery in a romantic manner that's slightly uncomfortable. The film version does little to update the story and as a result, some of its vitality is sacrificed. There's something very Montana about this project--kind of backwards and a little old fashioned. It works in that odd paradoxical way that it doesn't.

It seems the Smith brothers set out to make a very specific type of western--one in which nearly all of the thrills of the traditional western are either withheld or turn out to be fantasies. What's left is a portrait of a forgotten individual on a lonesome landscape. Not completely pleasant and not totally real, Winter in the Blood isn't the kind of movie with much of a shot at getting a major theatrical release. But true aficionados will want to track this down. There simply aren't many true Westerns out there these days--and while it may be a little inverted, this is nothing if not a true Western.'Winter in the Blood,' a Review by Sonny SkyhawkMy final verdict? On a scale of one to three feathers, with three being excellent, I give Winter in the Blood two feathers.
Comment:  For more on the subject, see Winter in the Blood Premieres in LA and Filming Winter in the Blood.

Filming Winter in the Blood

Sherman Alexie, Chaske Spencer, and Gary Farmer talk about the novel and movie versions of Winter in the Blood:

On the Set:  It's taken a state to make 'Winter in the Blood'

The film has been a labor of love for Montanans from the governor on down. It was made by local-boys-made-good (the Smith brothers), funded locally and based on a novel by a local Native American author.

By Kenneth TuranThe book, which has been translated into eight languages and remains in print, was a foundation stone of the literary Native American renaissance and has inspired countless writers, from Louise Erdrich ("what astounded me was that something so familiar could be made into literature") to Sherman Alexie.

Alexie returned the favor by becoming an associate producer on "Winter in the Blood." When he spoke at a fundraiser in Missoula, remembers co-screenwriter Ken White, he said that reading the book "was the first time I read a story about myself, the first time I saw my story represented in literature. It gave me permission to speak. It's why I became a writer."And:Spencer, raised on reservations in Montana and Idaho, is pleased to be able to use his "Twilight" fame to "help projects like this get going." Though his management was not initially enthusiastic, he says, "I put my foot down, I stuck with this project, I fought tooth and nail."

"I'm not getting paid that much; the experience of doing this is the reward," Spencer adds. "There are no special effects, no big-time soundtrack, but it's so layered, there are so many rich emotions. A role like this challenges me. It's why you hustle those tables, why you bartend, why I became an actor. There's no other reason to be in the Milk River up to your chest in sludge."

For Farmer, a three-time Independent Spirit Awards nominee for roles in "Powwow Highway," "Dead Man" and "Smoke Signals," a film like this, based on a celebrated Native American novel with a cast and crew that includes representation from close to 30 tribes, "has been a long time coming."

"For years as an actor, they never let us do the writing," he says. "We had to work twice as hard to socialize the writer to Native American realities. This for me as a career actor is the culmination of that. To witness this after a 38-year career is just magic."Comment:  For more on the subject, see Welch Movie Reaches Kickstarter Goal and Chaske Spencer's Upcoming Projects.

Below:  "Actor Chaske Spencer studies his script on the set of Winter in the Blood outside of Chinook, Montana." (Patricia Williams/For The Times)

Welch movie reaches Kickstarter goal

‘Winter in the Blood’ Meets its Funding GoalAn update on the quest by filmmakers Alex and Andrew Smith to secure funding to bring James Welch’s novel Winter in the Blood to the screen. This arrived in our in-box moments ago:

Thank you!

We made it! We reached our Kickstarter goal of $60,000! And with time to spare! We want to thank everyone who pledged. Please watch our blog in the coming days to see your name on our list of favorite people. Thanks to you, we are able to bring interns, like the up-and-coming Deidra Peaches, to the film set on the Hi-Line.Comment:  Good example of the crowd-funding approach that's becoming common in Native filmmaking.

For more on the subject, see Welch's Book to Become Movie and Crowd Funding for Native Projects. For more on the subject in general, see The Best Indian Movies.

Below:  "The Winter in the Blood team is a big step closer to making their movie."

Heartsong lectures and concert

'Heartsong of Charging Elk' inspires lectures and concertThe symposium will explore the themes of displacement, intercultural collision and accommodation in Welch’s last novel about Lakota warriors transported to France in the late 19th century by “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” show as players of themselves. The event also will celebrate the work of the late, 20th century writer and Blackfeet/Gros Ventre.

The lecture series will include talks by: noted Plains Indian anthropologist, linguist and editor of “Black Elk Speaks,” Raymond J. DeMallie; historian of the American West and author of “Buffalo Bill’s America,” Louis S. Warren; Native American studies professor and author of the forthcoming “’Killed Beyond Recognition:’ The Writings of James Welch,” Kathryn W. Shanley (Assiniboine-Sioux); and a conversation about the novel with Lois Welch, professor emerita of English, research collaborator and life partner of the late author.

The week will conclude with an original musical performance of “The Heartsong of Charging Elk” for four voices and a 10-piece chamber ensemble by internationally acclaimed Seattle composer and musician Wayne Horvitz, composer/songwriter Robin Holcomb and Pulitzer finalist, writer/director Rinde Eckert.Comment:  For more on James Welch, see Welch's Book to Become Movie.

Welch's book to become movie

‘Winter in the Blood’ reimagined:  Work of renowned Native writer will become movie

By Jamie KellyJames Welch, who was Blackfeet and Gros Ventre, and also Irish, died of a heart attack at the age of 62 in 2003. His work was lauded by critics the world over as deeply resonant not only of the Indian culture about which he wrote, but of all people.

“Winter in the Blood,” released in 1974, got its highest praise from the New York Times Book Review, easily the standard-bearer of literary criticism in the country.

Shortly afterward, the novel was “optioned” by a film agency that sought to turn it into a motion picture.

Trouble is, it never happened.

But it has a second chance now.

Filmmakers Alex and Andrew Smith, directors and producers of the independent film “The Slaughter Rule” (2002) are currently working on turning the 200-page novel into a motion picture, one that will be filmed entirely in Montana, featuring a large cast of American Indians.Indian Country casting call:  Auditions continue today for Montana production

By Jamie KellyWord spread like wildfire across Indian Country when the call went out for actors and extras for “Winter in the Blood.”

It was just a month ago that the notice was published in newspapers and Web sites across the Northwest. On Saturday, hundreds of Natives packed a third-floor wing of the University of Montana’s University Center to audition for parts large and small in the upcoming production, set to begin filming this summer.And:The casting crew consisted of directors Alex and Andrew Smith, who are intent on making a movie out of Indian writer James Welch’s celebrated novel about the realities of reservation life.

In the first hour alone, 100 applications were completed, and 90 minutes into the scheduled four-hour process, No. 12 had just left the audition room.Comment:  A hundred applicants in the first hour? So much for claims that it's impossible to find Native actors.

The trick is to actually look for them. And not to sit in your plush Hollywood office waiting for them to show up.

In short, these filmmakers aren't offering bogus arguments about how they have to cast non-Natives as Natives to finance the movie. Good for them.

Anyway, I haven't read Winter in the Blood, but I have read Welch's The Indian Lawyer and Killing Custer. Both were very good.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books and The Best Indian Movies.

Below:  "Perry Lilley Sr. has his measurements taken by Yuan Hua Saturday at the University of Montana for a possible role in an upcoming film based on the book “Winter in the Blood” by the late Missoula writer James Welch." (Michael Gallacher/Missoulian)