The Book of Clarence Review: A Conventional Retelling!

As someone who grew up in a Catholic religious family, the story of Jesus has been drilled into this critic’s brain since childhood. The twelve apostles, Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and all the small details in between have been shown in biblical adaptations for decades.

The Book of Clarence follows Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) who owes a debt to Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa) the brother of his love interest Varinia (Anna Diop). In hopes of gaining mercy from Jedediah and with the help of his best friend Elijiah (RJ Cyler), Clarence decides he will become the 13th apostle, one of Jesus’s followers. Upon his journey Clarence decides that maybe his path is to become the Messiah instead, thus embarking on a personal journey of self discovery.

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The Book of Clarence begins with a solid premise with elements of comedy that insinuates the audience is in for a historical rewrite of the Bible. What begins as a new take on a well-known story begins to drive into painfully familiar territory of a scene for scene Biblical retelling of the story of Jesus with identical imagery and storyboarding as submissions in the past. It became upsettingly apparent that The Book of Clarence is a biblical “epic” throwing virtually no curveballs at the audience in place of the same story we all know.

This is a huge shame because of the stellar Black cast working in the film and the opportunity to shape the story into a retelling that could have fit in a number of more modern thematic concepts. Not every film has to be modern in its themes but to draw from a story so ancient with a brand new viewpoint and settle for a textbook film is disappointing.

The film’s shift in genre and tone was difficult to appreciate when it was being thrown in during inopportune times. For example, during more raw and violent scenes writer Jeymes Samuel would throw in a one liner that after watching a man get whipped and crucified in an intense manner seemed off putting, especially because Samuel’s intent becomes apparent he is trying to create a dramatic biblical story.

LaKeith Stanfield and RJ Cyler have always had fantastic comedic timing and talent so to see RJ Cyler immensely sidelined unable to express his usual charming persona was disappointing. This duo could have easily carried a film with fresh flair in familiar territory and it was a shame the tone of the film was not consistent or fitting, even though tonal shift and genre bending is always fun to see when handled well.

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The Book of Clarence had a pacing issue even with the split of the film into chapters. The chapters seemed to make the film feel even longer than it was because each chapter had difficulty standing on its own in an entertaining fashion. One way to describe it would be how television has been made for binging now where writers don’t feel the need to have episodes stand alone and engage audiences because they know the entire story is the aim rather than putting their best foot forward for each episode. This is what the film felt like and caused it to drag. Although the on screen talent was apparent, The Book of Clarence fails to make a name for itself and settles for another submission in the biblical drama category.

‘The Book of Clarence’ Rating – 2.5/5

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