Smoke Signals

It was really interesting to see Smoke Signals and talk to the director right after. He emphasized the importance of subtext in a film. In Smoke Signals, an example of subtext is at the end of the film when Victor is spreading his father's ashes in the river. You can't see his face, and that gives the viewer the ability to imagine what his facial expression is. The director said that he'd actually planned on showing his emotion, but the lighting wasn't right. He almost redid the scene, but he decided that he liked it better this way.