A jingle dress is an outfit worn by American Indian women at pow wows. It is adorned with metal cones that make "a beautiful sound, like it's raining," young Rose's mother tells her in "The Jingle Dress," a homegrown movie that was the first film to receive public money through Minnesota's Legacy Amendment.
Shot in 2013 in northeast Minneapolis and other familiar city locations, the film follows the Red Elk family as they transition from a relatively peaceful life on the White Earth reservation to a noisier, more crowded and more eventful urban existence.
Rose's father, John (Chaske Spencer, best known as a wolf-pack alpha from the "Twilight" series), is on a quest to find out more about the death of his uncle, found frozen to death under a bridge.
Writer/director William Eigen uses the point of view of Rose (S'Nya Sanchez-Hohenstein, whose screen presence radiates a sweet, constant warmth) to narrate his spare, quietly effective story. She loves to climb trees to "see far and be closer to the sky," and is awaiting her own jingle dress at a ceremony where she will be given her own Indian name.
Meanwhile, John and his buddies look into whether Uncle Norton, who turns out to have been a talented artist, was killed or died naturally, and Rose's older brother, Chris (S'Nya's real-life sibling Mauricimo Sanchez-Hohenstein), befriends some mischievous neighborhood boys who want to explore dangerous caves.
Familiar Twin Cities faces appear throughout — musician Willie Murphy has a cameo as a guitar-picking bartender, as does actor/director Peter Moore, playing a slush-machine operator. But other than Stacey Thunder, who plays Rose's mom Elsie, and the two lead kids, featured Indian roles went to actors from other states. Though it would have been nice to see more local talent, the film employed plenty of Minnesota production folks. Greg Winter's lovely camera work and Dan Geiger's deft editing elevate what might have been merely so-so to something more.
"The Jingle Dress" deserves more attention and wider distribution. It's not only a stellar example of the kind of Minnesota-focused project that Legacy funds should be used for, but we also need more films that illustrate the Indian experience in America.
Kristin Tillotson • 612-673-7046
