BY MIKEY MIGO
On a recent weekday afternoon, I caught a random indie crime drama on one of the cable movie channels. What started as background noise while I answered some emails turned into a full on movie watching experience. “Sioux City” is a 1994 movie starring Lou Diamond Phillips directed by Lou Diamond Phillips. He plays a Lakota Sioux that was adopted and raised by a wealthy Jewish family in Beverly Hills. He’s a doctor and seems like an okay guy though. His Jewish parents love him and there seems to be nothing really wrong in the guy’s life outside of working too hard. He then gets a mysterious Birthday gift from his home reservation. He ends up going back home to discover his mother was murdered and the small town’s redneck Police force aren’t going to do shit for justice. He looks into it and a whole journey is ensued. It’s an interesting story. I’ve seen a lot of “rednecks vs. the others” movies with other races, and hippies, but never in this point of view. Not even looking at the cultural story of it, it had its “tone” so to speak. It has a weird cinematic vibe to it. It has some of the grittiness of a good 90’s independent movie, but at the same time there was a slight cheesy, Hallmarky, In The Heat of the Night TV show, Walker Texas Ranger feel to some of it. It doesn’t go too far in that direction. It still has some edge and some real substance to it. The story sounds like it could be a little light in depth, but the movie is ALL depth. Lou’s performance here rivals anything I’ve seen him in… including “La Bamba.” You could just feel the guy and get lost in the story. From a film nerd perspective, I appreciated the fact that he put so much of himself into it. The supporting cast was really good too. There really wasn’t a weak link in the bunch. It’s not without its flaws or areas I felt were weak, but I have no regrets getting caught up in this movie. If you come across it I’d recommend it. B
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