The Business of Fancydancing (2002)

Synopsis: "Buddies Forever, Man!" A poetic story of growth, death and the choices that define us, The Business of Fancydancing reunites Spokane Reservation best friends Aristotle Joseph (Gene Tagaban) and... "Buddies Forever, Man!" A poetic story of growth, death and the choices that define us, The Business of Fancydancing reunites Spokane Reservation best friends Aristotle Joseph (Gene Tagaban) and Seymour Polatkin (Evan Adams) sixteen years after their high school graduation. Beginning with a brief flashback to the young men's enthusiastic look to the unlimited future, the film mirrors both Aristotle and Seymour as they leave the "rez" for college in Seattle. Though these co-valedictorians left the rez for the white world in an identical state of excitement, their success in Seattle would ultimately differ dramatically and eventually set them against one another. As Seymour flourishes in college and embraces the advantages and opportunities in the white world, things don't go as well for Aristotle . The rift between the two former friends opens wider as Seymour builds a successful literary career as a poet, becoming (as Aristotle describes him), "the little public relations warrior," and the not-entirely willing spokesman for all American Indians, many of whom can't stomach him. Complicating Seymour's life further is news of the sudden death of his childhood friend, Mouse (Swil Kanim), a talented violinist and the cynical jester of the rez. Seymour feels obligated to return for the first time in years to the people who would probably prefer that he just stay away. His white lover, Steven, would also prefer Seymour not turn back to his past, and fears that if Seymour goes, he might not come back. "They're not your tribe anymore, I'm your tribe." The only person on the rez who seems to welcome Seymour is his college girlfriend, Agnes Roth (Michelle St. John), who though not rez-born and raised, is half-Jewish and half Spokane Indian. Though in love with Seymour in college, Agnes had the unfortunate experience of being the second person to learn that Seymour was gay, and as a result hasn't seen him for years. Agnes' perspective of the past is more forgiving then others' however, perhaps colored by her present life as a schoolteacher on the Spokane reservation. Once at the wake, tensions are heightened as Aristotle and Agnes have now become lovers, and Aristotle's long festering bitterness is dangerously exposed by Seymour's arrival. One by one, memories of Mouse are shared...and eventually it is Seymour's turn to speak. Does anyone want to hear him? Does he even have anything to say? The secrets of these people and their pasts are coaxed out by way of interspersed interviews conducted by a very aggressive woman (Rebecca Carroll). Sitting confrontationally in a black room situated between our world and the next, the unnamed interviewer continually pushes for answers in an unanswerable situation, drawing the audience ever nearer to the heart of Alexie's story. -- © 2002 Falls Apart Productions [More]

Starring: Evan Adams, Michelle St. John, Cynthia Geary

Starring: Evan Adams, Michelle St. John, Cynthia Geary

Director: Sherman Alexie

Director: Sherman Alexie
Screenwriter: Sherman Alexie

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