Movie Thoughts: Shana: The Wolf's Music (2014)

• Released: August 17th, 2014
• Directed by: Nino Jacusso
• Running time: 1h 36min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

A First Nations girl named Shana wants to make it big as a violinist, but the recent death of her mother makes things difficult for her.

My Thoughts

This is one of these movies where it has its heart in the right place. I can see what it's trying to do, being a heartfelt coming-of-age story about this young girl while also throwing in spiritual elements as she connects to her culture more as the story progresses. And it does some of these things well. You do feel for Shana, you do want her to succeed, you do feel her loss and her grief of her mother, you do get immersed in the spirits and music as Shana's story progresses. 

But at the same time this movie just suffers from a general awkwardness that really holds it back from succeeding. For everything it does well, there's another scene with awkwardly written dialogue, or not-so-great acting, or slightly weird editing, etc. It's a movie with a heart, but at the same time it's not a graceful movie. 

I really think that if this general awkwardness could've been avoided, this could've genuinely been a very charming and heartfelt and good movie. But even if it does do some things well, the awkwardness just holds it back from being truly good. 

I guess you guys also expect me to bring up the wolf. I mean, she's there. She doesn't do that much, but she does act as somewhat of a spiritual guide or sign to bring Shana closer to her ancestors.

Also, I want to bring up how a lot of the characters in this movie flat out suck. Shana's father is terrible and insensitive, the few townsfolk we come across are unlikable, the hunters suck, Shana's classmates are barely characters to begin with (and even then they're not good). Honestly the only likable characters ended up being Shana, the wolf, one of her spiritual ancestors we see through visions, and Shana's teacher, Lela Woodland. Especially the latter, who takes on more of a maternal role to Shana. But the rest just kind of sucks. 

So yeah, movie that has its heartfelt characters and moments, but is held back by an unlikable cast of characters and especially some general awkwardness it just cannot escape.