With newcomer Michael Bachochin’s film about to head around the festival circuit, James Freeman takes a first look.
There’s no escaping the fact that God Forgive Us is a very dark venture. Not dark in the sense of a gritty, or in any way hectic, style but rather a calmer and more pensive manner. The horrors we witness on screen are not especially original (dead child, attempted suicide, forced prostitution), and have all been explored before, but where would we be if we only allowed a single film to be made on any one subject?
The story revolves around four main characters: Millicent (Lindsay Rathert), an addict pimped out by her abusive boyfriend; Dane (James R. Doherty), a young man in therapy after trying to take his own life; Father Thomas Stone (Matthew Urban), a priest recently diagnosed with brain cancer, suffering a crisis of faith after the funeral of the daughter of the final main character, Jim (Brian Rooney). Chirpy stuff. We run through the experiences of each of these characters as each of their worlds fall apart around them, eventually discovering the way in which each relates to the other as the film enters its final stages.
In our post-Tarantino world, sincerity is often derided to the point where we forget it ever had any virtue. God Forgive Us is not afraid to tackle some of the bigger issues that surround us, most notably faith, with no reservation, or retreat behind the shield of humour. I think this is good, for while a black comedy could have conveyed Bachochin’s sentiments just as well, to take the plunge as he has done shows conviction on his part, which is only good news for the film. However, this sincerity does sometimes slip into melodrama, so while we are often drawn in by the emotion on display, it can at times feel overacted. It also has to be said that the acting throughout is uneven, with the pick of the four leads being Lindsay Rathert, who is the most subtle, and so comes across as the most natural. The script, and this is understandable given Bachochin’s inexperience, is also a little rocky, with some parts well-measured and nuanced, but others possessing a clunkiness that can render the dialogue unrealistic.
That said it is impossible to gloss over some of the very impressive features of the film, perhaps most notably the cinematography. Visually, God Forgive Us is a treat, with beautifully composed and captured shots that emphasise the inescapable despair that is eating away at the main characters. Director of photography, Camrin Petramale, deserves a special mention for that, I think.
I would not want to leave you with a negative impression of the film, that wouldn’t be fair. It was enjoyable (as much as those subject matters can be), and a great show of ambition from a young filmmaker. It’s probably fair to say that Bachochin bit off more than he could chew, but, ending up with a solid debut feature, I think we can forgive him for that. Still though, the element that conditions my praise is, sadly, some of the performance. If I weren’t as alienated as I was at times by the melodramatic acting, then this might have been a fairly different review.
