Some documentaries study their subjects remotely, like a scientist examining the matter in a microscope, while others engage in an intimate conversation not only with those interviewed but also with the audience. Words From a Bear, a new feature from relative newcomer Jeffrey Palmer, falls into the latter category. But, even more than an intimate conversation, the film is the cinematic equivalent of attending a warm and welcoming family reunion. There’s a sense of familiarity imbuing every shot.
This quality may have much to do with the documentary’s subject himself: N. Scott Momaday, a poet, painter, essayist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who speaks with a powerful but never domineering voice. He exudes wisdom without appearing pretentious and spellbinding to his listener without ill-intent (in the film, actor Jeff Bridges, claims he got a “good high” off Momaday’s presence alone). There’s an innate draw to this man, even through the distance of a lens and the barrier of a screen.
The other interviewees add to the sense of familiarity as well and further the notion that people naturally gravitate toward Momaday. In addition to Bridges, Palmer speaks with the actor’s brother Beau Bridges, Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, and fellow authors Joy Harjo and Rilla Askew, all of whom speak of Momaday’s eloquence, charisma, and imitability. However, the film is also a family affair: It features conversations with the author’s daughter, Jill Scott Momaday, as well as and the director’s father Gus Palmer, an old friend of the family. We are not mere flies on the wall, coldly observing this gathering of loved ones; we are invited inside, offered food, drink, and a place by the storyteller’s seat. We are invited to listen.
Through Momaday’s words (his prose and his poetry), through his paintings, through the gathered loved ones that share their stories, memories, and perspectives, through archive footage, through beautifully-shot live-action and animated recreations of reality, fiction, and folklore, we not only hear but see and feel Momaday’s life thus far. We journey through his early days in Lawton, Oklahoma, his upbringing in Arizona, his education, his winning of literature’s top prize for his debut novel House Made of Dawn, and beyond. All of these elements combine and flow across the screen and the soundtrack with calming ease, soft-spoken tales and remembrances shared around a gently crackling fire on a cool summer night. Aska Matsumiya‘s ambient-adjacent, piano, and synth string score serve as a sturdy (but never rigid) backbone to this elegant narrative experience, collectively as relaxing as an ASMR video.
Unlike ASMR, Words From a Bear will not lull you to sleep. Palmer’s approach may be gentle, but the film sparks with the ferocity of its animal namesake, much in the way Momaday, who self-identifies as a bear, even playfully growling at one point indicating that he’s “grumpy today” and doesn’t wish to smile for a photographer. Likewise, the man’s words and images spring from a place of sweet-tempered beauty, but carry with them, at the same time, a passionate fire and intensity. There is power in the message we cannot help but hear.
When and Where to Watch Words From a Bear
deadCenter 2019 – Sat, Jun 8th, 5:30 PM @ Oklahoma City Museum of Art
deadCenter 2019 – Sun, Jun 9th, 1:30 PM @ Devon Energy Theater at Harkins Bricktown Cinema
Words from a Bear It will also air on PBS as a part of the network’s American Masters series later this year.
