The Book of Clarence
The Book of Clarence
“The Book of Clarence” which is religious in nature and is done brilliantly by Jeymes Samuel, the seemingly all-knowing producer is captivating but devoid of plot. Set in the year 33A.D. Jerusalem, the focal character of the film Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) who is a street hustler, is treated in Samuel’s script as a ‘girl on a rampage’ type film that, unfortunately, tries hard to be politically relevant under the false presumption that every film involving blacks has to make a statement. As demonstrated in his film “The Harder They Fall”, Samuel is a very ambitious director with a clear objective of his work; however, there is a thin dividing line between revolutionizing the industry and making it too complicated for the audience to comprehend.
Though “The Book of Clarence” is a historical epic drama, religion is not the focus of it: Not only is Clarence played by Stanfield an atheist, he is also a disparaging drug dealer who sells weed and consumes it. Throughout the entirety of his life, there have been club dens where almost naked women can be seen sensually dancing and there are goons and other underworld figures as well.
Clarence also, however, is not the brightest candle on the Menorah in Jerusalem.
For this one, I will ask you to try to think more supimanly. To earn some money on the side, Clarence loans money from a notorious mobster, a chariot racist himself, namely Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), and challenges Mary Magdalene (Teyana Taylor) for a race. However, there is no clear rationale as to why Clarence sees this as a sure or even a profitable venture, especially a race. Still, the contest between Clarence and Mary, even though it was filmed in their country (Matera, Italy is being portrayed as Jerusalem), quite impressively, and in fact, quite creatively, provides an illusion of immersion. In a moment which owes a lot to ‘Ben Hur’, their chariots drawn by real horses, actually raced on the streets in the ways they are filmed. Rob Hardy understands dimensions very well in this shot as in the demais point of view shots taken from inside the carriage make you feel the rumbling of the wheels under your feet as if it was taking place.
At the chariot race, Mary takes both Clarence and his best friend Elijah (RJ Cyler) down in the first heat. In other words, this means that they had to return the money now and then. At first, Clarence thinks about becoming baptized aynway, God will look after him. It is such an absurd notion that it evokes a violent reaction from John the Baptist (an inventive David Oyelowo) – he slaps him. Following that Clarence appears to me a psychological coward – I will be one of Jesus’ gang members.
There is even that tactic which, however, has a few issues: – Do you remember Clarence? He is a non-believer. He also does not have a good relationship with his brother Thomas who left their mother (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and is annoyed by Clarence and does not return home; last but not the least, when given a chance, Clarence fails at one of his tasks as the disciple where he is only able to liberate a single warrior-slave Barabbas (the charming Omar Sy).
Such missed paces in between these staccato hustles are exaggerated by the comicality of the film whose shortcomings become the more collapse when Clarence decides to pull out his glittering,”new messiah “get riches scheme. This bright idea, and I mean this seriously, this bright idea nearly more than a third into the film. At that point however you begin to question the purpose for which this film has been made. You see, Clarence is not gullible enough to believe in how Mary became pregnant without having sex with any man or that it was Jesus who really did too many wonders. He believes that Jesus became a superstar after learning how to perform amazing illusions. The situation dictates that there is almost always a very delicate balance to the effect of mocking religion and the storyline carrying Clarence on a progressive search. The more it attempts one, the greater the other suffers – leading to torture jokes that almost always, if not always, fall just toward the upper end of the faint giggle.
In spite of its slickness, its invitation is almost solely offered by the film as it is evident with the fabrics of the costumes (including worn robes and creative use of gold) and broad engaging deep shots yet carefully distributed in “The Book of Clarence”, Samuel impedes the flow of the film with his even more over the top imagination.
Just like in “The Harder They Fall”, the composer was the director himself embellished the score of his movie. Some tracks create a refined post-soul feeling while the film develops around melodies rather than action, for instance: where the scene was disgustingly brought to the speed of molasses and music played in the background. Other elements, such as romance between Clarence and Jebediah’s sister Anna (Anna Diop) or a troublesome relationship between Judas (Michael Ward) and Jesus remain quite vague as well as the already overextended scope of the narrative. Still, the weakest part of the film has to be when Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) and the Romans go after Clarence. Samuel uses the Romans as simply being white supremacy without any other depth or argument making this a very strange political commentary but with no point. None of this is helped by Stanfield sans the material being misaligned. After so many years in the series “Atlanta” one would have expected that a brilliantly mocking good dark comedy would be just right. When not unlike Bobby Brown Teyana plays parts of A E rather, it is the offensive arrogant shitting up the gags as Peters when one should bring the deadpan comic relief. To this end, however, it has to be noted that anytime an actor takes a swing like that and misses with such a tontham it is quite good it’s unlike, even less so, all on the actor. Instead, the lead was simply put by Samuel is provided too much.
For the director, Stanfield is the one who should reconcile the genre switching, the sight gags, the philosophical issues raised, the “biblical” dialogues, and at the same time, deliver a bloody ending that most likely no one will come out of unscathed.
In conclusion, one feels that one had made an attempt at the most outrageous thing then, which is how does one become a holder of a religion – religious conversion more than anything else has been a pursuit looking to be hidden and wiped out throughout history. Is Black liberation not about freeing Black people’s minds so that the idea of Blackness is not corralled into one box? If that’s the case, then Samuel’s piece would have been cut out for exploring such intricacies rather than undermining them.
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- Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
- Country: United States
- Director: The Bullitts
- Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, Anna Diop, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward