The Book of Clarence, set in Jerusalem in 33 AD, follows Clarence, played by Stanfield, a man who seeks to escape financial desperation by posing as a new Messiah taking advantage of the growing influence of Jesus Christ basically he is trying to copy cat Jesus for financial benefits, I guess enters most part of the comedy like resuscitating a guy and charge people for it, trailer scene. The cast is a mix of very talented and experienced artists including Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop, David Oyelowo who I recently watch last year play the role of a cheriff in the great TV Series "Silo", Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, James McAvoy well known from Split and X-Men roles, and Benedict Cumberbatch aka Dr. Strange, just to mention part of this cast that in my opinion will be able to push this project forward, Kevin and RJ Cyler could take care of the comedy alone, those two can make you laugh for hours.
Jeymes Samuel, known as The Bullitts, is the director of this comedy. In the past Jeymes has work with several artists for example Jay-Z, Lana Del Rey and Idris Elba. His directorial debut was They Die by Dawn (2013), which set a precedent with an all black cast. For Samuel “The Book of Clarence is his first feature movie fusing his affection for biblical stories and comedy into a unique vision for the big screen, I got this from a couple of articles online, not that I'm a fan or know it all about him, if you go into his IMDB profile there is not much about him.
This movie was a global effort, with landscapes from all over the world like Morocco, Spain and Italy serving as cinematic backdrops. With a budget of $40 million, probably not much for such a movie, Samuel got him together a diverse and talented cast, aiming to inject the characters with humor, authenticity and charisma.
A couple of critics have already put their words out about how Samuel's reinterpretation of biblical characters and events and it was praised for its originality, humor, and social commentary, on review sites like Rottentomatoes the movie already have a 75% of acceptance in their Tomatometer, mostly from private reviews . They applaud its bold project from traditional representations, offering a new and more modern look at faith, identity and power, while skillfully satirizing the conventions of the biblical genre, when it comes to this kind of topic you really need to watch out where you step in to not provoke the public, this is a good thing, often satirical and skeptical movies can be controversial and the creators are worry about losing money or being the target of criticism, while audience response is divided, with some applauding its creative freedoms, appreciating its message of tolerance and love, others finding the movie disrespectful, offensive and distorting sacred scriptures and beliefs.
It seems to me that Stanfield's performance will attract a lot of audiences since is a very well known and versatile actor, some of his best work I remember him for are "Judas and the Black Messiah" who would have though, Atlanta, but recently didn't have much luck on a TV Series that I haven't watch yet "The Changeling" with very low scores. Most people will look into this movie for its comedy side but after all it seems to be more of a love story when Clarence discover the truth and peace he has been looking for submerge within all his problems. After watching the trailer I have many questions that push me into watching this movie once it hits streaming platforms, what tricks Clarence uses to create fake miracles besides common lies? What happens when they discover it?, I see people throwing rocks at someone, I guess it was him, How can he get rid of this bad image he has created for himself? During those times people were very naive I guess to follow such a lie but there are guys who are scam artist.
Based on a couple of articles online annalist predict a strong box office performance, with potential worldwide earnings exceeding $100 million, I can imagine there are very few movies around Biblical Stories and they are betting on creating a positive impact on viewers, although there is something in the back of my head telling me that this movie may not be without controversy, possibly facing criticism from religious groups calling blasphemy.
The Book of Clarence (2024) stands as a bold re imagining of probably the most known story by men, there is just something about this topic that calls for red flags everywhere you look at, its impact on the public and cultural approach remains to be seen, it has many challenges, is released in a competitive time with many other projects releasing after the 2023 big backlog of content due to the six month Hollywood Strike, this is not suitable for all audiences neither due to the type of content, I believe part of the audience will have a hard time with its acceptance.
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