The Book of Clarence (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – 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.

My Take – Though the Hollywood landscape has seen umpteen number of films which presented Jesus Christ as a savior and provided an unflinching look at the brutality of his crucifixion, with Jesus (1979), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and The Passion of the Christ (2004), being among the few of the popular ones, this second feature film by refreshing stylized English musician-turned-filmmaker Jeymes Samuel (stage name: The Bullitts) flips the story on its head, telling a story entirely removed from the Bible with a majority Black cast and more comedic tone.

Delivering an ambitious inquiry of faith and morality, on the lines of his debut feature, The Harder They Fall, a compelling under seen western told through a black lens that trotted onto Netflix in 2021, with an imagined tale of a wannabe thirteenth Apostle in 33 A.D., who decides to become a new Messiah to rake in on Jesus’s popularity.

Part satire, part Biblical re-enactment, and part alternate history, the film is framed as sort of stoner-spaghetti with some nice gags, Roman soldiers in silly uniforms and a stunning cast that careens through tones and sentiment. But while the film delves in big laughs throughout most of the film, it fumbles towards the end with an overly serious religious ending.

Resulting in a tonally disjointed entertainer with a subversive swagger and a cheekiness that is not generally associated with films of faith. Yes, it is mostly all over the place, but it’s still a fun film experience despite some tonal meandering.

Split in three parts like a Biblical epic, the story is set in A.D. 33 Jerusalem and follows Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield), a small-time con man and marijuana smoker/dealer who along with his best-friend, Elijah (RJ Cyler), often finds himself in trouble, gaining a reputation for himself. Often putting him at odds with his twin brother, Thomas (LaKeith Stanfield), who is one of the twelve apostles of the messiah Jesus Christ (Nicholas Pinnock), while Clarence is an atheist.

His latest escapade which sees him and Elijah losing a chariot race to Mary Magdalene (Teyana Taylor) on the streets of Jerusalem, puts him in debt with the loan shark Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), who threatens Clarence with death if he can’t pay within 30 days. Something which Jedediah’s sister, Varinia (Anna Diop), with whom Clarence is in love, even cannot alter.

Determined to find a way out of his predicament, Clarence cooks up a scheme to get in Jedediah’s good graces. But when his attempts to become Jesus’ 13th Apostle fails, he tries the next best thing: conning his way into Messiah status by manufacturing miracles, in order to earn not only respect, but enough contributions to settle his debts.

Indeed, the film has a fantastic premise and a captivating start, especially in the first three quarters. The easygoing, irreverent groove of the storytelling leans predominantly on humor as a means to smooth over the bumps and inconsistencies in the plot. The film covers a lot of ground.

With a mostly-Black ensemble, the film acts implicitly (and through one hilarious punchline, explicitly) as a corrective to history’s numerous whitewashed Bible films. We even see chariot races and gladiator battles, sometimes tonally at odds with drug sequences that feature characters floating in the air and quirky editing with spotlights on characters’ faces.

Some of the satire is more crowd-pleasing: The running gag of Romans who behaving like a bunch of corrupt cops never gets old, claiming victim hood when they are the aggressors and harassing the Black populations with persistent requests for ID, which, hilariously, are tiny scrolls of papyrus. Director Samuels proves he has a knack for landing even the silliest of punchlines.

Unfortunately, the story also takes detours into much more serious religious realizations as it heads towards the final act, causing a drastic mood shift that dulls the film and leaves the ending feeling flat.

As we see Clarence’s lack of faith in the existence of a higher power getting replaced with a certain and unshakeable faith, the film’s tonal collisions become more jarring. It certainly won’t work for everyone, but the picture’s energy is infectious, thanks in part to director Samuel’s self-penned score.

The always likable LaKeith Stanfield’s double performance as Clarence and Thomas works well as the film’s emotional core, and he is well supported by RJ Cyler, Omar Sy, Anna Diop, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Caleb McLaughlin, Nicholas Pinnock, Michael Ward, Teyana Taylor, Alfre Woodard, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Babs Olusanmokun, Tom Glynn-Carney, Chase Dillon and David Oyelowo.

James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch also appear in minor roles bringing in witty turns. On the whole, ‘The Book of Clarence’ is a fun but perplexing biblical comedy-drama that’s sometimes tonally disjointed but entertaining.