The Book of Clarence

I literally just made an IMDb account just now so I could leave a positive review of this film. It definitely deserves it. A fun ride of a non believer who slowly learns lessons through God he didn't know he needed. The music is also so nice. The ending was pretty perfect to me. Don't want to spoil things! Lakeithe Stanfield 100% deserves Oscar buzz for his performance. He made me laugh, think deeply and cry within this movie. There aren't many movies I can say that about. I saw it a week ago and I still am thinking of his character arc. To anyone that's said it's blasphemous and hasn't watched the movie, I assure you, this movie is great, it's not making fun or Jesus in any way. You watch and you will understand!

The Book Of Clarence might not be for everyone. It does reimagine a few things from the Bible and tells it from another point of view. This however might upset some who think this is being a mockery of religion as it's certainly far from that. In fact after watching this if you think it is saying something bad about religion you weren't really paying attention to the film. LaKeith Stanfield does a great job here playing our lead Clarence. The rest of the supporting cast is also terrific as well. Jeymes Samuel is in the Directing chair and he knows the type of film he is trying to make here. Coming off a strong film with The Harder They Fall, Jeymes does another strong job. My only complaint is I wish a little bit more was going on toward the middle of the film as it does start to drag on just a tad. Also the music selection was hit and miss as well. Overall I feel The Book of Clarence is going to become a cult classic when the dust settles. The Book of Clarence gets a solid 8 stars out of 10 from me.

Clarence, a non-believer in the messiah Jesus and a debtor, is willing to do anything for the woman he loves and his mother. With the deadline for his debt fast approaching, Clarence decides to do something drastic. Clarence declares himself a messiah and travels around Jerusalem, spreading his word of knowledge and performing "miracles." The possible conflict with the Romans and God comes with the success of being a messiah.

This film is part satire, part Biblical re-enactment, and part alternate history. The satire comes from applying modern ideas, concepts, and solutions in ancient times. The Biblical re-enactment comes from many of the people from the Bible are characters in this movie and are portrayed the same way. The alternate history take is how Jesus is shown compared to other Biblical films. The movie has comedy, morality, drama, spirituality, and aspects of Christianity. The movie is broken up into parts and is a good length. This is a decent watch for anyone willing to approach history, religion, and spirituality with an open mind.

I felt like there was a lot going on while watching the film. The film started out strong with its Book 1. I loved how established the story is from the beginning. It was even funny to watch the characters so casually in such an ancient and medieval setting. Even the biblical references were coolly represented. But then I felt the story went spiraling down towards the end. It was not a linear kind of plot. It was multi-faceted, and I wish it was not. I would have toned down the film to a more simplistic plot and less runtime. But I must say this was LaKeith Stanfield's best performance to date.

Before I go negative, I have to give major props to LaKeith Stanfield. His performances are always convincing. And this is no exception. He kills it. I said wow multiple times. I think he's reached star status. The rest of the cast does a good job as well.

As for the movie overall, it's not actively bad in any way. A lot of it just feels off. The story is a bit clunky. Some of the jokes land while others don't. I'm not really attached to any characters other than the lead.

I just wasn't into it. I wasn't engaged and I had difficulty getting through it. Maybe it's just not for me.

I look forward to LaKeith's next project.

(1 viewing, 2/6/2024)