Customer Reviews

Four Sheets to the Wind

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Four Sheets to the Wind" premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 2007 where it was greeted with a standing ovation. Though not commercial fare, the film is one of the best surprises of the year. Cody Lightning stars as a young native american who decided to leave his Oklahoma reservation for city life in Tulsa. There he meets up with his troubled sister. The relationship between the two is at the heart of this beautiful film. The lead performances are near perfect and was singled out for recognition during the festival awards ceremony. Don't miss this inspiring and dramatic story!

Pleasantly surprised with this film by Sterlin Harjo, I caught the tail end of this movie on the Sundance Channel one day and was immediately drawn to it by its narrative in Muscogee (Seminole?) language. I finally got a hold of the DVD and watched the entire movie. I wasn't too sure about watching this movie on Mother's Day because of some of its initial scenes. But in the end, it was a perfect movie for that day.
I think it is hard sometimes to make American Indian movies in contemporary settings without being sore about modern Indian social conditions such as alcoholism and racism. Sometimes such films start out only pointing to those issues and then next thing you know it's like we are yelling at or preaching to viewers.
This movie along with such films like Pow Wow Highway, Doe Boy, and Dance Me Outside recognize the sociocultural aspects of Native America but mostly emphasize modern American Indian storytelling by portraying traditional beliefs methaphorically. In any case, it is a movie about death, awakening, salvation, and rebirth. Four elements to the wind.
For this film, we see the portraits of contemporary living through Cufe, his mother, and his sister in Oklahoma. Yet through, the deceased father's 3rd person narrative, he tells us of the ongoings as if it was a Muscogee traditional folktale. Very neat and very original.
Cody Lightning is excellent as Cufe. But, Tamara Podemski gives the breakout performance of her career.
I give this movie only 4 stars even though it deserves 5. But, it is Four Sheets to the Wind. Get it?

I found this story of young Oklahoma Indians absorbing in the way any story is about young people finding themselves in a world that doesn't offer much of a place for them to fit in. Cufe, the central character is wonderfully played by Cody Lightning, who gives a thoughtful, quiet performance as a young man on the cusp of learning who and what he is. The death of his father awakens him to his real isolation in the world, and through him we understand his sister's desperate lostness as her life finds a dead end, off the reservation in Tulsa.

This is a movie about sons, as most of the screen time belongs to Cufe, especially as he opens up to a young woman he befriends while visiting his sister in the city and talks of his grief for his dead father. It is also a movie about motherhood and the pain and fear to be seen in the wonderful performance of Jeri Arredondo as Cufe and Miri's mother. While the film has more than the usual level of emotion, it avoids sentimentality and easy resolutions. It also has moments of wry humor, especially at the opening when the family has to fake a funeral for a man whose body has already been disposed of. Whites in the film, for a change, are stereotyped for their well-meaning foolishness on the one hand and coarse insensitivity on the other. This is a fine film with a Native American voice, and I look forward to more from director Sterlin Harjo.

A wonderful film. I loved every minute of it. The actors were great. Cody Lightning was brilliant. The entire cast fit their roles perfectly. Sterlin Harjo [writer and director of the film] was amazing. The story was beautiful. I have viewed the film three times and will watch it again and again.

I have played the movie several times just to hear the narrator. The characters were all easy to relate to and the plot was realistic. I thought it was a good movie- and so has other people that have viewed it with me. I would replace the movie with another one if I lost it... that says something...

When I selected this film to watch, it was on the preamble attached to the film, my surprise was how good it was, warm, realistic and wonderfully made. Well worth a second look.

Four Sheets was one of the highlights of Sundance '07 and has captivated audiences at every theatrical festival stop along the way. A must see... a beautiful tale exploring the human condition.

I have purchased several copies of this movie and sent to friends around the globe because Harjo's perspective is so unique and telling to the Oklahoma Native American experience. When a voice and vision is as original and entertaining as Harjo something wonderful happens for the viewer. I am not a professional movie reviewer, and do not review movies, but this is a must see.

Viewing Sterlin Harjo's "Barking Water" this summer @ Santa Fe's Native Cinema Showcase, I wanted more. An earlier movie made on location in familiar territory -- Wewoka (aka Barking Water), Holdenville, and Tulsa, Ok. -- "Four Sheets to the Wind" more than suffices.
Here a younger generation of Seminole comes to terms -- and not -- with death in the family and the need to explore beyong their rural round. Loved the folk tales, interspersed spoken Seminole language (Cufe=rabbit), sly sense of humor, extraordinary NA casting -- and yes, being Home.
Erstwhile Wewoka woman

This movie had a great promo, but did not deliver what it promised. It did not successfully get to the point, although it tried for way too long.