Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Griffin Rissinger ★★★

  Has the bones of something promising, but is brought down so much by just about every aspect of the movie. If the script was way more polished, and it actually had a budget and with better actors (aside from Mark Boone Junior — who’s good performance feels so outta place), I think this could have been a much better film.

  That being said there is a ton of heart in it, and from a native filmmaker, it’s ambitious and exciting to see things from the point-of-view of the reservation. I think this is an important film, bringing up many themes that no other films would.

• 

  Review by Mariner35 ★★★★½

  California Indian is an important film that exhibits many of the weaknesses of low budget projects. Given more time and money, the cinematography, pacing, editing and scripting could have been improved. But, how many films are there about California Indians? The context of the film is the pending decision of the Pomo tribe to build a casino on their land. Within that framework the problems of reservation governance, disappearance of language, separation of tribal members and exploitation by white investors are addressed. That is a large agenda for a low budget film, but California Indian pulls it off with honesty and heart. Highly recommend. It is streaming on Amazon prime.

• 

  Review by switchnow

  they introduce no joke 6 characters in the first 5 minutes

  I feel like the comedy could have been turned up a notch but the tone works. Wondering if any 2000s TV shows were an influence. 

  As someone whose grown up in California where casinos run by native communities are always on the periphery of news and family friend outings, it was easy for me to settle in to the setting and plot. I could imagine the film being off-putting to someone who didn’t grow up in the same context.

  much better than another no-budget indie movie I’ve seen featuring a radio show host

• 

  Review by Gregory Wood ★★½

  From Against the wind Films & SLV Associates & Big Valley Rancheria & Robinson Rancheria comes a drama about Indian life on the res directed & written by Timothy Andrew Ramos.it stars Gary Farmer Mark Boone Jr & Julia Jones kinda cheap production values but still watchable.