Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

Film Twenty Two: Vernon, Florida (1981). Errol Morris's quirky documentary captures the daily lives of citizens in a Florida town. Focusing on their stories, dreams, and philosophies, he creates a compelling portrait of small-town life and the larger-than-life, passionate characters that can inhabit out of the way places. Brief moments in the film with the turkey hunters, the police officer, or the man who collects various animals attests to the power of story telling and how human interaction can teach us a lot about how others see the world.

Film Four: Dark Wind (1991). I have not seen this Tony Hillerman adaptation in years. While it was the only fiction film directed by famed documentarian Errol Morris, this one feels cobbled together because he left the project before completing his vision. Lou Diamond Phillip's tentative performance as Jim Chee and Gary Farmer's assured one as Deputy Cowboy Albert Dashee do little to help the fragmented narrative, and poor editing gives a boom mic star power that it does not deserve.  While I enjoyed the acting, I can't really recommend this one. Instead, if you are interested in adaptations of the Chee and Leaphorn mysteries, I suggest watching the 2022 AMC television series Dark Winds starring Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, and Jessica Matten.