4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great!, May 28, 2009
This review is from: Sinner (DVD)
Beautifully shot, well directed and preformed, with a sincerely dramatic and evocative score. I really enjoyed the journey through this film.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, unforgettable film, October 27, 2010
This review is from: Sinner (DVD)
Far superior to the 2008 feature "Doubt" with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Marc Bernaoudt's "Sinner" is probably one of the best, most profound films to deal with Catholicism that I have ever seen. I'd even rank it up there with Bressons' "Diary of a Country Priest" in terms of passion and clarity.
This film takes place in the wake of the sex scandals that plagued the Church in 1991. Nick Chundlund ("Training Day", "Con Air") plays the saintly Father Anthony Romano, who is perhaps the opposite of how most Catholic priests are portrayed in contemporary film--he is more like Peck's priest in "The Keys of the Kingdom" than Linus Roaches' anguished, contradiction riddled padre in 1994's "Priest"
A surreal tour de force with very little cliche or backing off from the cruel realities of the world both inside and outside the rectory, Romano is a gentle man with a few secrets and a golfing buddy who helps him "use his muscle memory" played in top form by Brad Dourif, the Church's groundskeeper. He has the misfortune to be paired with a clearly mentally disturbed fellow priest (Michael E. Rodgers in a genuinely frightening role) a fundamentalist who despises Romano for being a "Vatican II liberal who panders to any little qualm the parishoners have"--all this while he is bailing the guy out of jail for assaulting a prostitute played by Georgina Cates.
This prostitute, Lil, focuses her sights on Catholic priests--attempting to get them to violate their celibacy and then using blackmail as her ruse to empty their pockets. She is a lost, desperate soul, and takes Romano hostage after the incident (which is never explained fully) with his nutjob priest in arms.
A lot is explored here, perhaps with more earnestness than I have yet seen (and without the malicious, reactionary cynicism) of most movies about the Catholic Church in contemporary times. Everyone does a wonderful job but the highlight is really Romano--a man in whom Christ has truly put on His "new man". The dialogue between Romano and Lil is priceless.
I'd recommend this film particularly to lapsed Catholics trying to make sense of their faith in the contemporary world. A masterpiece.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The loneliness of a priest's life, March 30, 2010
This review is from: Sinner (DVD)
Great, behind the scenes, depiction of a priest's lonely, emotionally conflicted life in a small parish. Well acted, realistic dialogue. An engaging, riveting drama with a shocker of a surprise ending. I was brought up Catholic and this story rang loud and true. Andrij
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