Cuando Los Lagartijos Corren, Tiger.

When I was a teenager, I fell in love with the book "Tiger Eyes" by Judy Blume.

The exact copy I owned.  Cover's not great.  

Every time I looked at it, I reflected on the horribleness of that blouse.

"Tiger Eyes" is the story of Davey Wexler, a teenage girl whose family life is completely overturned by the sudden death of her father.  Early in the book, after trying and failing to cope with normal life while grieving, Davey, her mother, and her little brother Jason uproot from their home of Atlantic City to live with Davey's aunt and uncle in Los Alamos, New Mexico.  

Frustrated with the sudden move and needing to get out of the restrictive embrace of her extended family, Davey takes a bike ride to a local canyon where she decides to hike by herself.  Here she meets a college-aged American Indian guy who tells her that he knows she is not a hiker based on her shoe choice and the fact that she did not bring water with her.  He leads her out of the canyon and when she asks him for his name he tells her that she can call him "Wolf".  Asked whether this is a first or last name, he replies with "Neither."  He asks for her name and she tells him to call her "Tiger" and that it is also neither a first nor a last name.

Over the course of a school year, Davey meets and befriends others- Jane is her closest friend at the local high school who is sweet, a little immature, and drinks more than she should; Mr. Ortiz is a sweet, funny elderly patient staying in the hospital where she volunteers as a candy striper.  She also deals with the extremely difficult relationship she has with her aunt and uncle, who are well-meaning but extremely over-protective in a way that is both stifling and completely unimpeded by Davey's mother, who is too mired up in her grief to check in with her kids.  

As the year progesses, Davey and Wolf's relationship does develop romantically, but more significantly in terms of the support that they offer each other.  Wolf lets her be herself, does not ask too many questions about her past, and shares his canyons with her.  Davey is also a great friend to Wolf during difficult family times of his own.

Tiger Eyes has romantic elements to it, but never completely jumped into being a true teen romance, because it was more about dealing with the loss of a loved one and the changes it brings.  As a teenager, I liked the fact that Davey had other things on her mind besides boys, and that the one boy that WAS on her mind, was a Native character who was not a stereotype or mysticist but a thoughtful, compassionate, extremely intelligent person with a lot of empathy.  Also- let's face it, I had a massive literary crush on Wolf, who I was convinced looked just like Adam Beach during his finest hour in "Dance Me Outside":

Frank Fencepost is my lover, ya'all.

Tiger Eyes became a book that I read at least annually for most of my teenage years until, either because of a move or a pet accident, my copy was lost to me.  Given my history with/love of the book, I was not pleased with the development but also sort of moved on and forgot about it.

Fast forward to my early 20s.  My mother (who lives for her three things: family, art, and thrift-store shopping) came home from a garage sale with a really cool looking older book.  It was a library hardback without a dust cover that had been repaired several times, it was the right size, and I thought, absolutely gorgeous.  She handed it to me and said, "I remembered that you liked Judy Blume as a kid, so I picked this up for you.  Have you read this one?" And so it was that Davey and Wolf re-entered my life and I went on annual visits to the canyons with them.  

Fast forward again to a few years ago, when I found out that they were making a movie of "Tiger Eyes".  I was convinced that there was no other possibility for me but to love it because I would finally see my characters embodied by actual people.  When I found out that it was being directed by Judy Blume's son and that she would be producing it, I was elated.  I was still high on the amazing experience of the film version of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and the effect of its author's influence (and its ability to take away the crippling fear of Ezra Miller that I had after watching "We Need to Talk About Kevin".)

It was a while before I heard anything else about the movie.  Apparently it opened at a film festival and on VOD but never widely in theaters (a huge mistake on the film industry's part, in my opinion).  A couple of weeks ago, I decided to check and see when it was coming out on DVD.  To my surprise, it had already been released and was available for the low price of $5 from an online-bookstore-name-redacted Marketplace seller (plus S&H).  Small price to pay for great joy, I figured.  

My copy came in the mail last weekend.  The cover of the DVD looked a little like a Lifetime Movie which was disheartening, but I was prepared to overlook that in favor of the actual movie being good.

Davey is melancholy because her mother put the ix-nay on sleeping with danger.

I spent all of this week putting off watching the movie for, you know, reasons- I was tired from work.  I was not in the mood to watch something that was going to make me cry.  I was in the middle of a mediocre book and wanted to get it finished first.  I think the real reason though, was that I was not yet ready to deal with the possibility that anything about the movie might be bad.  "Tiger Eyes" was sacred in my personal canon and I was not ready to have it marred by anything.

I finally sat down to watch it last night, and to my very great relief it was wonderful.  Not perfect, but definitely wonderful.

The actress that they chose to play Davey was not without her quirks (she tended to talk with her jaw clenched shut for some reason), but she was a very good choice for the role.  She managed to pull off sad but not pathetic, and weakened by grief but still strong.  Also- for a movie with "eyes" in the title, she was capable of using them to portray complex emotion, which is something that not every young actress can do.  

(Could name names, but why give bad actors MORE press?) 

The actor they chose to play Wolf was both beautiful and extremely engaging in his portrayal of one of my favorite literary characters, so I was thrilled.  He was also actually Native which was extremely heartening given the portrayal of Natives by Western film and television.  I know I, and many other people in Indian Country, experienced a big pop cultural disappointment when the role of Jacob Black from "Twilight"- arguably the biggest role for an American Indian actor of the last several years- went to a kid who frequently proclaimed that although he was extremely dark-skinned, he was just a pigmentally anomalous descendant of the standard mess of European countries every other white person claims.  Wolf being played by a Native actor- Tatanka Means if you want to look him up- was sort of an enormously big deal for me and I am happy they found such a wonderful young actor to do it.  (I am not alone in this opinion.)

More strongly represented in the book than the movie, I was also over-the-moon to find that the depiction of Wolf's culture was not only respectful but really beautiful as well. I am not Tewa, so I don't know their teachings or practices, but it was very evident from the way that they were represented that the filmmaker consulted with southwestern Native people to show that appropriate respect was given to representing the culture and people (who, by the way, were all played by Native actors.)  This movie also has the distinction of being the first time I have ever seen a film directed by a non-Native director that did not make me extremely anxious when it came time to depict a ceremony or dancing.  I cannot underscore how big of a deal that is.  One of the best examples I have ever seen of how Native cultures SHOULD be portrayed in film.

Do I think I would enjoy this movie so much if the book had not been my favorite as a kid?  Probably not.  Davey's mom IS played by the Pink Ranger after all (or Julie from "Felicity"- pick your favorite annoying role).  Also, although the film was extremely strong in relating Davey and Wolf with one another, the performances by the other actors were a little wooden and their presence in the same film as the two wonderful leads (and the amazing Russel Means who sadly died shortly after the film was made) was jarring at times.  The actress that played Jane was my least favorite part of the film as it appears as though she did not get the memo that despite the poster, they were not going forward with the Lifetime movie angle, and played her character's alcoholism with all the melodrama and crocodile tears appropriate to that type of vehicle.  Still- the wonderful parts were wonderful enough to outweigh the bad for me, so I am happy that I watched it.

I have so much to thank Judy Blume for- getting me through fourth grade; making me realize that although my first periods were bad, they could have been worse (Margaret had to wear pads attached to a BELT!); and helping me realize being chubby, stinks but is not the end of the world.  Most of all, I am just grateful to her for telling me a story that has resonated with me for most of my life, and then deciding to breathe new life and experience into it via film.  Judy's my girl.

Oh- and in case you were wondering, here's the trailer for the movie: