Johnny Greyeyes (2000) User Reviews

Tough Canadian film.

[magunda · 7/10 · 6 December 2001]

I saw Johnny Greyeyes today and was somewhat impressed. It is a very tough and depressing film. The plight of native people in this country is not a pretty one. It is basically a jail/family relationship centered plot. I believe the director was aiming for as realistic as possible a setting. I have heard that 90% of the female inmates in Canadian prisons are native.

The film is reasonably well shot and has passion in the acting. It is a credit that any film done about indiginous culture is being made. I do ,however, feel that one of the best films that touched on this is "Heater" with a fabulous performance by Gary Farmer.

Pretty good depiction of how Native inmates are treated in prison! :((

[LaxFan94 · 7/10 · 18 September 2006]

I found this film to be somewhat true on how Native inmates are treated in prisons. It's pathetic to see that whenever they have a right to fight back at the prison guards, the guards only knock them down again and lock them away in isolation!! That would NEVER happen with white inmates! Trust me on that one .... I know what I'm talking about here!! This sort of thing has happened way too many times to Native inmates and usually for no reason at all! Most of the times it's because the guards just feel like raising a stink just to bother Natives, and that's all that is! Unfortunately this will never change unless the entire North American penal system FINALLY wakes up and opens their eyes in that they should stop harassing Native people. And I'm not just talking about in the prisons. Harassment is just another form of racism against people and anyone who agrees with me here already knows that it's wrong to harass to try and cover up one's own racist views against Natives!

But...... ANYWAYS..... that's my scoop on this.

My eyes are officially blinded...

[film-critic · 1/10 · 11 August 2005]

This was a rough film to watch. Not from the harsh themes that were being broadcast from this film, but from the overall development of the movie. Nothing was professional. This film had the feeling as if it was completed in the course of a couple of days. It seemed as if the director had the money, but chose to do no editing, really grainy effects, and to ensure that the voice dubbing process was not synchronized. It seemed as if the director was rushed to finish this product and ultimately it showed. You remember in school when your parents were always angry when you had a week to do a project and you found yourself finally starting it the night before it was due? Well, that was the overall feel of Johnny Greyeyes. There was this feeling that the director had the image, had the ability, but found that by rushing to finish he could have a classic "gay and lesbian" film to place in the theaters.

I was very disappointed in this film. Nothing meshed, nothing matched, and there was nothing connecting any points together. I was able, due to logic and a college education, to connect some of the structure so that I could see exactly the direction that everyone was headed, but without either of these two helpers, this film would have been lost. Lasting only about 75 minutes, the director Jorge Manzano tried to cram every dark element that he could into such a short span that instead of powerful film-making, what was created was a rushed finished product. I hated the way that Manzano tried to incorporate the bustle of the city into a correlation on how the prison system functions. It was like grabbing at string to save your life. Without these snippets of the "real" world Manzano would have had a twenty-minute long film, and perhaps that would have been better. Jeesh, Johnny Greyeyes was horrible.

The acting was some of the worst that I have ever seen. The characters were so underdeveloped that I thought I saw a stagehand walk on and become a part of the scene just for fun. I had no clue who most of the characters were. This is not a good way to start the film. Random characters from the prison just seemed to run into a scene, speak some form of prophecy, then run out never to be seen again. Even Johnny's brother didn't make any sense. I felt no emotion for anyone in this picture because there wasn't enough time to get to know them. This film asked you to open your heart and find a sympathetic chord for the characters, but did not give you enough time to do it. I think Manzano wanted to create a film that shocked people and had them gasping for air. I would say that he accomplished this goal, but not in the way he was hoping. I was gasping for air at the end of this film, but not from sheer enjoyment. Instead, I suggest that most rent an oxygen tank to finish this film, without it, you may suffocate.

I have to stop writing about this review now because my air is about to run out. Please, whatever you do, if you ever find yourself in a fight, use this film as a weapon. It will stop anyone cold in their tracks!

Grade: * out of *****

Since there are no other films that touch these subjects...

[hoopdancer01 · 4 October 2010]

When I first heard about this movie, I was pretty excited. After watching it however, I was disappointed. There are no really good films, if any about aboriginal lesbians and I was hoping that this would be an amazing new film. In the first few scenes I started to look forward to how the story would develop around the two women and the family relationships, or even how Johnny's family accepted it. That was how the film was advertised anyways.

I was unsure after a bit, what she had done, and didn't realize that the entire film was building up to her crime. The distance between her and her brother was never explained, and his mini-story failed to make any sense at all. I think perhaps there was too much going on. I don't know much about film making, there was just something awkward about the storyline, or how it was presented. It seemed like Lana was just put in the film to make it more interesting, instead of exploring actual native lesbian relationships in prison. Perhaps if you took out the lesbian prison story, the film would have made more sense, but i don't know, I'm not here to edit the directors decisions.

Maurice's performance as Johnny was passionate. She did an amazing job. The actors/actresses are all amazing and beautiful. It would have been nice to see more sizzling chemistry between Johnny and Lana.

This movie could have been an amazing break through for aboriginal film, and LGBTT film, yet failed to do so. It is yet another mediocre/awkward LGBT film, and another slightly more than mediocre native film. Since there are no other films like this, i give it 4 stars. I hope you enjoy watching it and can watch it the entire way through without cringing from bad film making.