Drunktown’s Finest is Sydney Freeland’s directorial debut on a feature – and it shows.

This film, which combines the increasingly interwoven stories of three young Native Americans, is never quite able to stand properly on its own two feet. It wobbles forward, like a dizzy newborn fawn, not entirely aware of what it is trying to be.

There is a certain homespun poetry to each tale, but Freeland and her cast can’t capture its essence effortlessly. Too often you will see the cords in the central narrative’s neck bulging with exertion.

It’s always just Drunktown’s Finest. Never Sundance London’s finest.

Drunktown’s Finest isn’t a film. It’s an afternoon soap that is one character too large and fifteen minutes too long. Hampered by hammy performances and cheap dialogue, it is never fully certain of what it actually is.

RATING 2/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore, Morning Star Wilson

DIRECTOR: Sydney Freeland

WRITER: Sydney Freeland

SYNOPSIS: Three young Native Americans – an adopted Christian girl, a rebellious father-to-be, and a promiscuous transsexual – strive to escape the hardships of life on an Indian reservation.