Movie thoughts - Christmas in the Clouds

The feel good movie of the year, as my friend, Sue, said. Definitely a Must See. We're hoping it experiences the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" phenomenon, that is, box office built almost entirely by positive word-of-mouth. We're both doing our part!

Apparently this is the first romantic comedy ever set in "Indian Country," and it's the first movie that Robert Redford has allowed to to be shot on his Sundance property since his own film, Jeremiah Johnson.

The scenery and locale are totally gorgeous, from the camera swooping down through the clouds during the opening credits to the vistas that appear behind the characters as they fall in love.

It has all the hallmarks of a classic romantic comedy, including mistaken identities and quirky secondary characters. All put into excellent service of a charming love story, or two.

Better yet, though almost all the characters are Indian, the only alcoholic is a middle-aged white man, and there are no scenes of poverty or destitution. Instead, these are just average working people, trying to make a success of their tribal-owned resort.

It wasn't until I went to imdb.com to check on the soundtrack (not available) that I realized that this movie was made back in 2001. Can you imagine, with as much juice as Robert Redford has, it took four years to get this movie into theaters?? And here's an even bigger shame -- the two very attractive leads have done nothing since then:

http://indie.imdb.com/title/tt0221074/