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The Book of Clarence

2024

Jeymes Samuel

Lakeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo ...

4.5

103

Drama. Comedy A down on his luck Jerusalemite embarks on a misguided attempt to capitalize on the rise of celebrity and influence the Messiah for his own personal gain. The journey leads him on an exploration of faith and an unexpected path.

	Media	Author	Review
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"[It] delivers some good turns but drifts into piety (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Wendy Ide Screendaily	"Samuel filters a well-worn genre through a Black lens, and has a great deal of fun doing so"
		Emma Kiely Collider	"No actor misses a beat and it confirms LaKeith Stanfield remains not just a brilliant actor but a true movie star"
		Alistair Ryder The Film Stage	"It's immediately noticeable that his attempts at modernizing a genre that was at its cultural peak in the 1950s largely comes down to making everything play like a music video"
		Guy Lodge Variety	"Another revisionist twist on a white-dominated film genre, buoyed by a strong, mostly Black ensemble"
		Tara Bennett Paste Magazine	"[It] is a grab bag of ideas and genres that sometimes hit their mark, but in general don’t land a believable arc for the title character"
		Josh Slater-Williams IndieWire	"The results are tonally erratic, but absolutely interesting, at the very least"
		Ed Potton The Times	"If the ending is disappointingly conventional, though, what comes before brims with boldness. And Stanfield is the kind of unfeasibly charismatic lead whom you can imagine people following in their thousands (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Neil Smith Total Film	"Stanfield is a charismatic lead in a cast that boasts more than one enjoyable cameo (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Nadir Samara Screen Rant	"[It] has style & daring concepts. LaKeith Stanfield's performance positions him as an actor who can do anything (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		John Serba Decider	"[It] doesn’t 'work'. But is it watchable, and laudable for its ambition? Without a doubt, yes"
		Leila Latif IGN	"The film has plenty of style and some riotous comic moments, but the devoted religiosity and shifts in tone are occasionally too heavy a cross for it to bear"
		Helen O'Hara Empire	"Credit for its casting and design, but it’s not the movie messiah, just a very disappointing mess (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Witney Seibold SlashFilm	"'The Book of Clarence' is aspirational, unique, moving, funny, weird, and very shaggy"
		Justin Clark Slant	"'The Book of Clarence' has an energy that’s largely missing from its influences (...) It does posit a more humanist approach to the subject not often seen on screen (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Thelma Adams The Wrap	"It's still the greatest story ever told, but given the stoner humor at the beginning, it's a come down"
		Alejandra Martínez Austin Chronicle	"Buoyed by... creative bursts of fresh air and great performances from its ensemble cast, 'The Book of Clarence' has a lot to offer but is weighed down by its tonal irregularities (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Lovia Gyarkye The Hollywood Reporter	"So it’s disappointing when 'The Book of Clarence' stops short of a full embrace of farce (...) The more impassioned moments land oddly, exacerbating the tonal incoherence"
		Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune	"Does it work? I’d say no, and sort of, and in the end, almost (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Alissa Wilkinson The New York Times	"What’s good about 'The Book of Clarence' is what so many movies lack: taking really, really big swings"
		Michael O'Sullivan The Washington Post	"The results are entertaining, sometimes riotously so, yet also decidedly mixed (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Robert Daniels rogerebert.com	"The filmmaker has an exacting vision, but there’s a fine line between subverting the genre and rendering it incomprehensible (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"

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