Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) and Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) in THE BOOK OF CLARENCE. Courtesy of Sony
Director/writer Jeymes Samuel seems to have been inspired by those Hollywood’s long tradition of epic Biblical movies, like BEN HUR and THE ROBE to try his own version of those big-screen extravaganzas mixing Bible stories with adventure and action for THE BOOK OF CLARENCE – but with a big comic twist. With a plenty of humor, some social commentary and with a mostly Black cast playing the Jewish population of “Lower Jerusalem” in 33 A.D., Jeymes Samuel aimed to create a new, entertaining version of this venerable movie genre. The result is a movie with one foot in something like BEN HUR crossed with Monty Python’s LIFE OF BRIAN, with a touch of Mel Brooks’ HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1. THE BOOK OF CLARENCE is a cinematic creation that teeters precariously and unevenly between the wisecracking and the reverent, sometimes making head-spinning switches from one to the other.
Often, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE does hit the mark on comedy, and even on social commentary. It also often hits the mark on the touching and gentle faith-inspired moments. It is in putting those two together in one movie where this movie hits rough patches.
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE both honors the classic Hollywood Biblical epic and sometimes mocks it, a film with both faith and low comedy. It opens with wonderfully-ornate classic Hollywood titles to introduce its chapters, and the film has high-quality production values, with fine sets and costumes, so that it evokes the epics that inspired it. Further, it has an excellent cast, led by the gifted LaKeith Stanfield as Clarence, and including Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy.
Clearly, Jeymes Samuel comes at this production from a place of sincere faith but just as clearly he wants the audience to have fun, laugh, and be entertained. But the humor, which tends to low-brow, and the serious, which leans to sentimental or touching, don’t often mesh in this movie. Low comedy in the style of Mel Brooks is hilarious and fine on its own, but it doesn’t work in every movie story, especially one that strays into the sentimental or touching. The two just clash here.
It is an ambitious project and a tough balancing act to pull off, and Samuel deserves credit to the attempt, even if the mix of humor and faith doesn’t always work, sometimes whip-lashing from a serious scene to a joke with head-spinning speed. with a movie that seems often off-balance. Still, for the right audience, one willing to ignore that uneven tone and whiplash shifts, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE’s underlying sincerity might come through.
Like in LIFE OF BRIAN, this story is set in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, and the central character, Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield), is someone who is continually mistaken for Jesus. But in this case, it is not an accidental case of mistaken identity. No, Clarence is a con-man, a non-believer who deliberately creates that confusion, with faked miracles and the aim of gathering donations from a crowd of followers.
Like BEN HUR, there is a chariot race, in this case the opening scene where Clarence and his buddy Elijah (RJ Cyler) attempt to win a chariot race to win a big cash prize, bankrolled by a local tough guy called Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), They lose, leaving Clarence in debt to this loan shark.
But this 33 A.D. Jerusalem is full of Messiahs, something that makes the Romans rulers nervous, fearing it is a lead-up to rebellion. Clarence is an ambitious young man, hoping to be “somebody” and struggling under the ruling Romans’ thumb like everyone else and a host of personal problems. Ironically, he loses that opening-scene chariot race to the fiercely independent woman (Anna Diop) he is secretly in love with, who also happens to be the sister of that loan shark to whom he now owes money. Clarence is also the twin brother of Jesus’ apostle Thomas (also Stanfield), who looks down on his never-do-well twin, while Clarence resents his brother for abandoning their sick mother (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) when he left to follow Jesus, leaving Clarence to nurse her back to health.
Director Jeymes Samuel clearly knows the Gospels well but has no problem playing around with the Jesus story to suit his film. Clarence lives in economically depressed “lower Jerusalem” and the residents of Jerusalem are played by a mostly Black cast, while the Romans are played by white actors. Although we see what appears to be Hebrew writing on the signs and walls, there is no mention of Jews or Judaism.
The humor tends to be low-brow and sometimes even slapstick, like when Clarence meets Jesus’ mother Mary (Alfre Woodward) and pointedly quizzes her about being a virgin, resulting in a slapstick scene. That style of comedy is hard to integrate with more serious or reverent scenes. Some serious scenes are touching but others are melodramatic or too pat, which also does not help matters.
The film is filled with familiar Biblical figures. Nicholas Pinnock plays Jesus, while David Oyelowo plays a hyper-critical John the Baptist and Omar Sy plays a superhero type Barabbas, who becomes Clarence’s pal. James McAvoy plays a chilling Pontius Pilate, rounding up all those roving Messiahs, while Benedict Cumberbatch plays a beggar covered in dirt and rags, who gets a makeover and a bath, transforming him into the Renaissance image of Jesus, with the expected adoration results.
BOOK OF CLARENCE has plenty of problems, including not quite being able to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a more serious film about faith and belief. But in a movie world of re-makes, re-boots, sequels and prequels, one has to give Samuel credit for doing something fresh.
In a movie world of re-makes, re-boots, sequels and prequels, I want to give Samuels credit for doing something fresh. But if you come to THE BOOK OF CLARENCE looking for a revival of the classic Hollywood Biblical epic, you may be disappointed. If you come for comedy and action only, you also may be disappointed. However, for some audiences, more willing to just go with the movie’s shifts of tone and style and embrace it for the quirky, faith-based thing it is, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE may be just the funny, inspiring, quietly reverent film they are looking for. It isn’t everyone but there may be an audience for this sincere cinematic if offbeat effort.
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE opens Friday, Jan. 12, in theaters.
Review
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE – Review
Share
Tweet
Share
Share
0 comments
Director/writer Jeymes Samuel seems to have been inspired by those Hollywood’s long tradition of epic Biblical movies, like BEN HUR and THE ROBE to try his own version of those big-screen extravaganzas mixing Bible stories with adventure and action for THE BOOK OF CLARENCE – but with a big comic twist. With a plenty of humor, some social commentary and with a mostly Black cast playing the Jewish population of “Lower Jerusalem” in 33 A.D., Jeymes Samuel aimed to create a new, entertaining version of this venerable movie genre. The result is a movie with one foot in something like BEN HUR crossed with Monty Python’s LIFE OF BRIAN, with a touch of Mel Brooks’ HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1. THE BOOK OF CLARENCE is a cinematic creation that teeters precariously and unevenly between the wisecracking and the reverent, sometimes making head-spinning switches from one to the other.
Often, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE does hit the mark on comedy, and even on social commentary. It also often hits the mark on the touching and gentle faith-inspired moments. It is in putting those two together in one movie where this movie hits rough patches.
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE both honors the classic Hollywood Biblical epic and sometimes mocks it, a film with both faith and low comedy. It opens with wonderfully-ornate classic Hollywood titles to introduce its chapters, and the film has high-quality production values, with fine sets and costumes, so that it evokes the epics that inspired it. Further, it has an excellent cast, led by the gifted LaKeith Stanfield as Clarence, and including Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy.
Clearly, Jeymes Samuel comes at this production from a place of sincere faith but just as clearly he wants the audience to have fun, laugh, and be entertained. But the humor, which tends to low-brow, and the serious, which leans to sentimental or touching, don’t often mesh in this movie. Low comedy in the style of Mel Brooks is hilarious and fine on its own, but it doesn’t work in every movie story, especially one that strays into the sentimental or touching. The two just clash here.
It is an ambitious project and a tough balancing act to pull off, and Samuel deserves credit to the attempt, even if the mix of humor and faith doesn’t always work, sometimes whip-lashing from a serious scene to a joke with head-spinning speed. with a movie that seems often off-balance. Still, for the right audience, one willing to ignore that uneven tone and whiplash shifts, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE’s underlying sincerity might come through.
Like in LIFE OF BRIAN, this story is set in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, and the central character, Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield), is someone who is continually mistaken for Jesus. But in this case, it is not an accidental case of mistaken identity. No, Clarence is a con-man, a non-believer who deliberately creates that confusion, with faked miracles and the aim of gathering donations from a crowd of followers.
Like BEN HUR, there is a chariot race, in this case the opening scene where Clarence and his buddy Elijah (RJ Cyler) attempt to win a chariot race to win a big cash prize, bankrolled by a local tough guy called Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), They lose, leaving Clarence in debt to this loan shark.
But this 33 A.D. Jerusalem is full of Messiahs, something that makes the Romans rulers nervous, fearing it is a lead-up to rebellion. Clarence is an ambitious young man, hoping to be “somebody” and struggling under the ruling Romans’ thumb like everyone else and a host of personal problems. Ironically, he loses that opening-scene chariot race to the fiercely independent woman (Anna Diop) he is secretly in love with, who also happens to be the sister of that loan shark to whom he now owes money. Clarence is also the twin brother of Jesus’ apostle Thomas (also Stanfield), who looks down on his never-do-well twin, while Clarence resents his brother for abandoning their sick mother (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) when he left to follow Jesus, leaving Clarence to nurse her back to health.
Director Jeymes Samuel clearly knows the Gospels well but has no problem playing around with the Jesus story to suit his film. Clarence lives in economically depressed “lower Jerusalem” and the residents of Jerusalem are played by a mostly Black cast, while the Romans are played by white actors. Although we see what appears to be Hebrew writing on the signs and walls, there is no mention of Jews or Judaism.
The humor tends to be low-brow and sometimes even slapstick, like when Clarence meets Jesus’ mother Mary (Alfre Woodward) and pointedly quizzes her about being a virgin, resulting in a slapstick scene. That style of comedy is hard to integrate with more serious or reverent scenes. Some serious scenes are touching but others are melodramatic or too pat, which also does not help matters.
The film is filled with familiar Biblical figures. Nicholas Pinnock plays Jesus, while David Oyelowo plays a hyper-critical John the Baptist and Omar Sy plays a superhero type Barabbas, who becomes Clarence’s pal. James McAvoy plays a chilling Pontius Pilate, rounding up all those roving Messiahs, while Benedict Cumberbatch plays a beggar covered in dirt and rags, who gets a makeover and a bath, transforming him into the Renaissance image of Jesus, with the expected adoration results.
BOOK OF CLARENCE has plenty of problems, including not quite being able to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a more serious film about faith and belief. But in a movie world of re-makes, re-boots, sequels and prequels, one has to give Samuel credit for doing something fresh.
In a movie world of re-makes, re-boots, sequels and prequels, I want to give Samuels credit for doing something fresh. But if you come to THE BOOK OF CLARENCE looking for a revival of the classic Hollywood Biblical epic, you may be disappointed. If you come for comedy and action only, you also may be disappointed. However, for some audiences, more willing to just go with the movie’s shifts of tone and style and embrace it for the quirky, faith-based thing it is, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE may be just the funny, inspiring, quietly reverent film they are looking for. It isn’t everyone but there may be an audience for this sincere cinematic if offbeat effort.
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE opens Friday, Jan. 12, in theaters.
RATING: 2 out of 4 stars