Grayeagle

Right from the opening of this simple Cheyenne legend - an ageing chief intoning in his ancestors' graveyard - the mood evoked by the widescreen Montana landscape is fractured by nonsensical jumps. With 40 minutes removed, the film has been not so much cut as butchered for distribution here. What's left is a disjointed narrative, marvellous performances from Johnson and Elam (whose moments of quiet dignity are ludicrously curtailed), and a picture of Indian life that carries sufficient authenticity only to be undercut by some un-folkloric music and slow-motion. A mess, but one which carries intimations of something better: a would-be mood piece celebrating Indian cycles of death and rebirth. CPea.