The Book of Clarence

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.

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)

I am uncertain of the causes of the mid-line ratings for this film. Regardless of your religious outlook, I found this to be insightful, thought-provoking, and appealing to younger generations. Yes, there are points of humor added for entertainment, but the meaning behind the entire film is beautiful. Historians have confirmed there were several who claimed themselves the Messiah to profit. This movie shows one of these accounts and the realistic reactions and actions that likely had been experienced during the time. It's skepticism, mockery, experience, admission, and faith.

Though it's clear creative liberties were taken, the message is consistent and clear; no matter your belief system, these messages can be applied to all walks of life. The poignant moments of commentary regarding the disparaged to those who have, the evolution of morality, and the powerless to the powerful is formed in a way that is palatable for most with an open mind who view this movie as a time to expand your limitations and are open to discussion.

Also-- the soundtrack is fire!

When I saw that Samuel was following up The Harder They Fall with a Black Biblical satire, I got pretty excited. I actually don't mind sacrilege or reinterpretation. Life of Brian? Blessed are the cheesemakers. Last Temptation of Christ? Other than Keitel's accent, I was onboard. Anyway, the problem with this one isn't the religious satire. It's that it tries to succeed at a few too many things. It wants to be an effective satire, drama, and romance all at once. It is hard enough to make a movie like Leap of Faith that cuts across all those genres, but doing it with a story that takes place at the time of Jesus might be just a bit too ambitious. In order to make everything work, the movie rushes through multiple genres (sometimes in a single scene) trying to fit it all in. As a result, the cast nails it and Samuel directs it well...but I still never quite settled in enough to care.

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.