A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Blistering performances.

Sadly, this film is proof that good books can't be always translated into good films.To me, this film is nothing like the book. There is no mood set, the cast is totally wrong---the parents look like they could be the brother/sister of Davey, not parents. All poignant dialogue and scenes from the book are removed. There is no building of scenes, and they just did not translate grief except for a few brief moments. They moved and shifted characters and didn't have enough flash back sequences to unfold the mystery of Davey's grief, like in the book.Sadly, I was thoroughly disappointed all around. The fact they changed the ending as well---nothing was done right--they showed no growth of Davey as we see in the book.There are brief moments where you can really feel the grief, but sadly, with no build up, or even getting to know Davey, it falls too short.

OK-this indie can be contrived and melodramatic at times, but it also can be poignant and moving I decided to accept the schmaltz and just go along with the story.Willa Holland, as Davey, gives a wonderful performance here, as a teen trying to cope with the sudden death of her father(we don't learn till near the end of the film how he died) to whom she was very emotionally attached. With Davey's mother Gwen (Amy Jo Johnson) traumatized by the loss, as well, Gwen elects to accept her sister Bitsy's, very believably portrayed by Cynthia Stevenson, invitation to temporarily stay with them in Los Alamos, New Mexico. So Davey, her younger brother Jason and her mother travel from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to New Mexico for the respite.Davey, still trying to deal with her grief, must now try and contend with her over controlling Aunt Bitsy, who seemingly attempts to act as her and her brother's mother, while Gwen is immobilized with depression and pills. Also, Davey must try and deal with her pompous and abusive Uncle Walter, as well as fit into a new high school. At the school she makes some new friends such as Jane (Elise Eberle), who has a drinking problem.Most importantly though, Davey meets Martin, ably played by Tatanka Means, who's of Native American heritage. He asks her to call him Wolf and he gives her the name Tiger for her "sad eyes". They become sort of soulmates, with Martin teaching her rock climbing and together they explore old Tewa caves in the rocks ( the cinematography of the New Mexico landscape is quite gorgeous).All in all, if you can put aside the contrivances, this can be a touching indie film, led by strong performances all around.It was directed by Lawrence Blume, and he also co-wrote the script with his mother Judy Blume, based on her novel of the same name.

Tiger Eyes, a young adult book written by Judy Blume in 1981 and the first of her movies to be brought to the big screen, is about a young girl trying to cope with the murder of her father. Her son, Lawrence Blume wrote the screen play and directed the film. Willia Holland stars as Davey and Tatanka Means stars as Wolf, the young man who who helps Davey find strength from loss.Despite the Boston International Film Festival playing an unfinished version of the film that lacked surround sound and the rich deep and moody color the directer intended, the movie was lushly filmed and used the landscape surrounding Los Almos New Mexico as a silent-yet-powerful character in the film.What is rendered on the screen is a spare yet moving meditation on the solitude of grief and the redemptive power of connection. The film holds a few masterful moments that telegraph to our hearts and minds the experience of grief. Close to the beginning of the movie we are presented with a character's wish to rise up in a hot air balloon and never come down. Shortly thereafter Davey is alone, cradled by a New Mexico canyon, and calls out for her now dead father. The aloneness an isolation of death and loss are hauntingly personified in these two scenes.The separation and isolation build in the movie and come to a sharp point before pivoting in a Native American ceremony with Wolf (Tatanka Means) and his father Willie Ortiz (Russell Means, Tatanka's real-life father). The ceremony teaches us that no one is left alone in this universe and that it is vital that we are not alone as we are social beings. Wolf's father says "if a person feels disconnected, he or she might fail." The movie starts to unwind itself and carry us to the ending as relationships move from contraction to expansion toward an emotionally satisfying ending. No one fails.Blume's books are dense. She packs in many different facets of the young adult experience. The movie adaptation of Tiger Eyes is no different. In 92 minutes we are exposed to death, grief, teen drinking, teen relationships and dating, rebellion, angst, and more. I found myself wishing for a simpler more spare story line. The other issues presented in the movie, while important and well done, distracted me from the elegant beauty of relationships lost and found.I think, perhaps, my wish of a more spare movie reflects my more adult tastes. I got to thinking about how young adults interact with media-- short bits of information. I wonder if that was Lawrence Blume's intention of the movie--to present short bits of information to a young adult audience in their own language. If that's the case, it was pure genius.more: http://irreverentpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012/04/relationships- lost-and-found-tiger-eyes.html

I saw the film at its premiere at the Sonoma International Film Festival, and I thought it was wonderful. Willa Holland's performance was both subtle and powerful, showing an incredible amount of pent-up anger, frustration, and sadness that truly moved me. I have never read the book (or any Judy Blume novel,) so I was surprised by the film's depth and gentle handling of a very tough subject (the loss of a parent.) The film isn't your typical tale of teen angst and longings - it's a dark and subtle character drama. The film is also incredibly well-shot (mild spoiler - my personal favorite was during a scene where the mother is singing Christmas carols with her new friends, where Davey is watching from the hallway, framed by party guests in this very contrasted light that just reinforces her character's intensity in that moment.)All-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and I hope that it finds a distributor who not only cares enough to give the film a good release, but also doesn't screw up the marketing by making the film out to be something it's not.