The Book of Clarence Reviews

Like many biblical epics before it, The Book of Clarence casts many of its characters in the entirely wrong race for the period and geography in question. In this case, however, this choice appears to be a deliberate attempt at social and religious commentary. Unfortunately, despite its many upsides, the film's unremarkable screenwriting makes it hard to give this commentary full appreciation. In this comedy-drama by Jeymes Samuel (his second directorial feature since The Harder They Fall), Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) latches onto an idea that should have been rife with potential in the age he's living. He decides he'll claim to be the next messiah, believing that trying to ape Jesus (Nicholas Pinnock) at the peak of his rise to fame may help him climb his way out of debt after failing to win money in a chariot race against Mary Magdalene (Teyana Taylor). As many would already guess from this premise, the film doesn't treat its religious roots with extreme gravity. Many scenes are altogether irreverent, such as Clarence openly doubting Mother Mary's (Alfre Woodard) virginity to her face. At the same time, The Book of Clarence is hardly atheistic in nature. Miracles exist in this world. Clarence, too involved in his love of knowledge and his efforts to woo his creditor's sister, simply isn't interested in religion as anything other than a means to an end. The titular character doesn't embark on this journey alone. He's aided by his best friend Elijah (RJ Cyler) and freed slave Barabbas (Omar Sy), the latter of whom Christian viewers might recognize as the prisoner who was set free, instead of Jesus, who would be killed. The character is treated humorously in this outing, characterized as arrogant and perhaps a bit unhinged. This choice may isolate some viewers of faith, but it's inarguable nonetheless that Sy performs incredibly well with what he's given. This leads to one of the film's larger drawbacks. Just about everyone in the cast delivers, yet it always feels necessary to add the caveat that their performances only shine as brightly as the script allows. Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) is such a straightforward "evil white man" archetype that it feels like it would be difficult for anyone to play his character poorly, rendering McAvoy's performance less remarkable than it might have felt otherwise. Likewise, Clarence follows such a predictable character arc that Stanfield's portrayal of his growing sincerity as he learns about faith feels underwhelming in the film's later moments. Despite these shortcomings, there's nothing messy about the technical aspects of the film's presentation. Samuel demonstrates remarkable skill as a director, always choosing perfectly when to cut and when to linger. This is especially clear when the action ramps up; the cinematography in scenes such as the opening chariot race is the stuff of summer blockbusters. It's merely the script that fails to shine completely, with both the humor and religious commentary often revolving around low-hanging fruit and lazy race baiting. An example of both is when white beggar Benjamin (Benedict Cumberbatch) is mistaken for Jesus based partially on race. The joke doesn't even make a great deal of sense, given that, in the film's narrative, Jesus has unquestionably been established as black. A movie can choose to make Jesus black, or it can complain about the whitewashing that resulted from Renaissance-era artwork, but attempting to do both simply doesn't work. It also comes across as somewhat hypocritical for a film to complain about miscoloring biblical figures while actively choosing to do the same thing. If not for the underwhelming story structure and confused attempts at balancing humor with religious commentary, The Book of Clarence might have been one of the better religious comedies. Between Samuel's competent direction and the inspired talents of his cast, the film has much of what it needs to become a memorable classic. For some, it may still succeed in this endeavor. For many, however, it probably won't merit more than a single viewing.