DOCTOR, LAWYER, INDIAN CHIEF Review

Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief is the latest attempt at a neo-noir film from writer-director Pablo D’Stair, and while it may be as challenging to get through as his previous entry, A Public Ransom, this proves to be vastly more rewarding and a marked improvement.

This 60-minute minimalist tale of intrigue begins with a man named Leonard confronting his wife about another man who approached him claiming to be an ex-husband. Although she doesn’t outright deny this allegation, it does spark a heated argument, leaving the couple on rocky terms. Later, his wife claims to have been contacted by a woman claiming she has slept with Leonard, sparking even more conflict and resulting in the wife splitting. From this point, any more plot details would be considered spoilers, so I’ll just say things begin to get confusing and a mystery begins to form.

If you saw D’Stair’s A Public Ransom, you’ll find yourself in familiar territory with Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief. He once again employs his fuzzy, black and white technique to push the noir look and adds in some film grain and sound noise for added effect. This style actually works better within the context of this film, considering the plot is far more interesting.

Once again the framing choices are well done, with all static shots and no handheld or dolly work within the film at all. The locations are a bit more varied this time around, and there seems to be many more cuts. This, along with the shortened runtime, makes the film more endurable.

Carlyle Edwards and Helen Bonaparte return as the film’s two leads and bring with them all the overacting that proved detrimental to A Public Ransom. I found them less annoying in this film, but I don’t know if it’s because of the better script, the shorter runtime, or if they have improved as actors. However Edwards’ community-theater-like emoting still sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me. I also found myself despising every character in the film and caring very little for their actions or anything they had to say.

Much of the film is comprised of brief conversations between Leonard and the other six characters. The interesting thing is that many of these conversations feel completely pointless for the most part until the big picture starts coming into focus, which makes the viewer recall some of the minor details in these earlier interactions. Although the lines may not be delivered well, the dialogue feels natural and well crafted. This is the film’s strongest feature. It lays out a complex narrative and hides it within a simple story.

Although this is still not a film that I would recommend to a casual movie watcher, Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief held my attention the whole way through and kept me puzzled over how this was all going to play out in the end. It’s great to see D’Stair honing his craft with these smaller releases, and I see his skill building.

Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief (a film by Pablo D’Stair) TEASER TRAILER from Pablo D’Stair on Vimeo.