The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry

This is the Christiano brothers' best film (thus far), a lovely coming-of-age story about several youths in a sleepy upstate New York town circa 1970. In some ways it seems like the '50s, and the boys' shorts are definitely post-1985 length, but these are minor quibbles. Gavin MacLeod solidly portrays the title character, perhaps the meatiest role of his entire career, and quite likely an accurate reflection of his offscreen personality.

I saw this in the theatre, and the Gospel message is completely at odds with what the other films were selling/saying. It was a sad reminder of what this nation has fallen from.

For what could have been a pedantic, by-the-numbers evangelistic tract on film, this is instead a moving, well-crafted, tightly scripted bit of cinema. If this is any indication, we can expect even better things from the Christiano brothers in the years ahead.