The Confessor

For a non-Canadian viewer,the film might seem weird .Their priests do not look like those of their countries,or maybe this is the movie which makes them look like more like yuppies than men of God.It takes a lot of imagination to believe that Christian Slater,Stephen Rea and even poor Von Flores are clergymen.

The movie is actually a whodunit where Slater -who began his career in a monastery (remember "the name of the rose"?)puts on his little act of Hercule Poirot without a mustache .Best performance ,IMHO,comes from Nancy Beatty as the sinister Mrs Gallagher:she particularly shines in the scene where she blames the clergy for their life in luxury.

Like this ...try this.....

Primal fear (Gregory Hoblit) -much better than "shepherd"!-

"The Confessor" AKA "The Good Shepherd" is a well-acted drama.

The plot: Father Daniel Clemens (Slater) has uncovered a murder mystery involving other priests and corruption in his church. Can he uncover the truth?

Christian Slater puts in a good performance as usual. Parker also holds her own. The mystery is a little uneven and the ending is weak, but overall the movie is worth seeing. It goes in too many directions. The director made another movie called "Gone Dark" which is a hidden gem.

In the end: "The Confessor" is decent little mystery if you don't take it too seriously.

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Father Daniel Clemens (Christian Slater) does money solicitation and financial work for the church. He's called in for admiror Father Andrews who was arrested for murder. Andrews can't prove his innocence due to the seal of confession. Clemens has his friend McCaran (Stephen Rea). Cardinal Ledesna (Gordon Pinsent) orders Clemens to handle the case. He struggles to do PR and investigate with the help of reporter Madeline Finney (Molly Parker) with whom he has a past.

This is a Canadian production that pulled in some bigger actors. Stephen Rea is woefully underserved. It's obvious what they're setting him up for but it's a waste of a great actor. As a mystery, it doesn't lay out the clues and twists that well. The filmmaking is plain. It needs a better filmmaker to inject real intensity and brooding mood. Neither writer nor director seem to have gone on to do much else. The church's internal battle needs something bigger and more ominous. The forbidden love between Daniel and Madeline has no heat and is awkward when the heat is turned up. There are elements of a better film but this puts it together like a movie of the week. It's only when Stephen Rea, Slater, and Parker join forces do the movie starts pulling together.

Uneventful Opening.

+1 Star For the Priest who upholds the honor and integrity of the confessional despite having uh...how shall i say......'flaws' ?

Okay this movie really didn't have a lot of umph to it at all..

The ending was very quick and really didn't add anything.

-1 Star really for the whole 2nd half of the movie.

5/10 is probably being generous....

This film deals with a priest by the name of Daniel Clemens, (Chistian Slater) who is not very well equipped to be a parish priest and is more like a financial business man who can raise funds for the church and deals only with the higher ups in the church. There is a murder and a priest is involved and he is accused of the crime, Daniel is summoned to help this priest out and find out exactly what went on with this murdered man, who was considered a whore. There are many deep dark secrets that are uncovered as Daniel plays the role as a detective. Daniel even gets the help from his former girl friend, Madeline Finney, (Molly Parker) who is a journalist and works at a TV station. Daniel has to stay over night a Madeline's apartment and he accidentally sees her nude taking a shower. There are all kinds of situations concerning dope and plenty of murders and it is not easy to try and figure out just who is doing all these killings.