Honestly though, I was a little wary of what I was walking into. Because, as I've written about earlier this year, my general relationship with Christian art has not been entirely positive. I have a low tolerance for low quality work from Christians when we have the ultimate connection to God, the Creator of All The Things.
Having said that, it gives you insight into how I went into this movie. Knowing that it was based on a true story, and desperately hoping that this would help it feel more real. It was interesting, watching it in the location where it was filmed (we were in San Jose, and if you're familiar with the area, this guy who the movie is about is now a pastor at Church on the Hill). Lots of people from the myriad of churches and Christian schools in the area, lots of cheers when popular local areas and sites popped up. Kinda surreal to see areas that you know on the big screen, but that's beside the point.
I'll start with the basic plot (SPOILER ALERT from here on out): Think redemption story. The synopsis from the website says:
"Cars. Good looks. Mansions. Money. Women. Miles Montego has it all. Including a past. He was king of the streets as a high-level drug trafficker, and although he has tried to move on, the DEA isn’t convinced. Miles is still rolling with his old friends and colleagues, and the feds are certain he has not fully retired from his criminal past. When Miles meets Vanessa Leon, a woman who is different than every other woman he’s met, he is drawn to her beauty and her faith. She is a “church girl” in every sense of the word. Increasingly, he is torn between a life that he knows and a love that he feels. As Vanessa experiences his lavish lifestyle, mobster-type friends, gun play, and encounters with past women, Vanessa must reconcile her faith in God and her growing love for Miles. Both are tested to their last ounce of faith and strength in God and each other. God continues to chip away at Miles through struggles from his past, having to live up to his reputation, feelings of unworthiness, the death of his mother, federal charges, his friends being indicted, the strain on his relationship with Vanessa, almost losing her in a near-fatal car accident, and finally the spiritual breakdown that brings him on his knees to face God one-on-one.
I’M IN LOVE WITH A CHURCH GIRL is a powerful, inspiring story of a love between a man and a woman, a gift of second chances, and a family at home and in church that never stops praying and believing."
Honestly, the first thing I thought when I read this was, "well, whoever wrote this clearly doesn't understand the value of leaving a plot-twist or two in mystery." It literally lines up everything that happens in the movie. But I was still determined to give it a chance, because really who can fault a slightly over-informative synopsis? It happens. Let it go.
So the movie was written and produced by the guy who it all happened, to, named Galley Molina. If you Google the guy (which I did just now, because I was curious as to the real details of the story) you see that he's huge in the entertainment industry. Before he was a Christian, he was huge into the music and film business and he's continued in that since converting, just diverting his considerable resources to "more Godly" versions of the real deal. Which totally explains the first thing I was suitably impressed with about the movie: The cinematography and production was really quality. Honestly. It wasn't reminiscent of a soap opera, or super jumpy or any other major quality issues. It focused a little too much on solo close-ups mid conversation for my taste, but that's just a stylistic thing that I just don't like that much.
Personally, I prefer the sort of indie style of cinematography (think Juno, Scott Pilgrim, Away We Go, etc.) so it felt a little clean cut to me, and way flashy. But it was still really good quality.
So, with the writing, acting and soundtrack... I'll start with the acting. It had good moments and bad moments. The good moments included the points where the writing allowed for people to actually get mad or just overwrought, as well as the more natural interactions between the Miles and Vanessa. The scene where Miles finally breaks down and has a screaming fit at God before repenting was particularly powerful. It was when they got into the heavy conversations with one or more people that it started feeling wooden to me. Like, there were still some good moments, but they were fewer and farther between.
Now for the writing. While I give absolute kudos to Galley Molina for taking on the writing of a screenplay about his own life, for the sake of creative license, I feel that he should have at least had ONE co-writer who was a more experienced writer. In all the list of his creative accomplishments, I saw music and movie producing, not writing, which makes a difference. Now, if this had been in a non-fiction book format, the sort of writing might have been more okay. As it was, it fell below the line of quality on my scale. But the good first.
The movie's message was great, saying that God can redeem everything no matter how far gone you are. (Note: while in the movie Miles didn't got to jail, Galley actually did, which is where he started writing this whole thing out.) I mean, you can't argue with that. Also, good: They hit up topics relating to dating/falling in love with an unequally yoked couple. Or in non-Christianese, one Christian, on non-Christian. Things like what happens when he is sexually frustrated and happens upon Song of Solomon (one of the funniest scenes of the movie. He likened it to late-night HBO). What happens when a sheltered Christian girl encounters the kind of world where loaded pistols are kept in glove boxes. What a person's reaction is when they're searching, but are faced with personal tragedy (his mother dying suddenly). A holiday church-goers reaction to things like tithing and worship music and your average sermon. How a Christian has to show grace to deal with a dark past. That part I particularly appreciated. There was very little condemnation and lots of grace in dealing with Miles as he was searching.
So that was the positive. The negative was (in some minds) me nitpicking. But there were some things that consistently show up in Christian movies that drive me nuts. First is a simple equation: Often wooden acting + every cliche Christian line you can think of = Serious cheese. For the record, my definition of a cliche is something that is usually absolutely true, it's just been said so often as a cure-all without any real feeling behind it that turns it into something people roll their eyes at. That being said, I feel like so often truths about Christ, statements that are actually really valuable, are turned into cliches because they are said so often, or in such a tone, that they become not relateable. In my mind, that's what happened here. It has to strike a balance. If it sounds like you're just saying it because you think it's what you should be saying, not because you feel it (which is what happened here), or if it's so filled with sincerity that any logical person would gag, you're not hitting it. I realize this seems like a small thing to some people. But it frustrates me, because we have this overwhelmingly awesome God that is infinite and mighty and people can only find 20 things to say about Him over and over again, and not even with feeling.
Second negative was the missionary dating aspect. I realize that it's a true story, and that's how it happened so there's not a lot you can do about it. Heck, it's really what the whole movie is about. So this is probably unreasonable of me. I just think it bears mentioning that it is not a reasonable assumption to think that just because it does happen means that it happens all the time. That's all.
And while I'm not sure exactly how it happened in real life, in the movie is seemed too easy. Like, she got everything material and all she had to do was covert the guy. They were very careful to show her as not caring about the money, but come on now. It was obvious that it was part of what drew her to him at first. Again that may be nitpicking. Also, I was actually kinda disappointed that the movie didn't show him going to jail like his friends did. It was like he got off scot-free for some serious stuff, when in reality he didn't.
The other big thing for me was that the story felt clunky. The flow was forced.
The biggest thing for me though was that it could have been SO much better. That's what disappointed me the most. I mean, you've got real life gold here. Things happen in real life that no fiction writer could ever come up with, unless it had already happened to them somehow. To take such a powerful story and water it down with less-than-stellar writing just seems wrong to me. I understand that Galley Molina lived this story. I understand how difficult it is to let something like that out of your grasp, and let other writers put their grubby mitts all over it. All the same, the first rule of any Creative Writing class is that workshopping is a thing, it's a good thing, and it will eventually make you a better writer and will definitely improve your writing. It hurts like crazy, especially when it's your own retelling of personal experience they're tearing apart, but it's worth it. Also, if it's a retelling of your life that you're trying to convert to a different format, it's highly valuable to have someone experienced in that field come alongside and co-write to make sure the transfer happens well. *sigh* I'm going to stop now.
Finally, the soundtrack. It was, again, well produced and fairly good quality music of it's own merit. The problem I had with it was that it seemed like they wanted the soundtrack to be the vehicle for all the feelings the actors weren't doing so great at showing at times. So while the actors are reciting a Bible verse uber-sincerely, but without huge amounts of expression, the music was like a flashing neon sign saying, "JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW HOW YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FEEL HERE, WE'RE GOING TO FORCE IT ON YOU!" Or like, "THIS IS A SUBTLE DRAMATIC MOMENT, JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU NOTICED!" That part bugged me. Just a little bit.
So that's what I thought about it. Overall, the movie was well produced and occasionally well acted. It had a good message, one that I think needs to be heard more than the "turn or burn" train of thought. I wouldn't go so far as to call it well written, but that's me. On a scale of 1-5, I would give it a high 3 in terms of overall quality. If this seems harsh, sorry. Like I said in my last post, I get super critical of stuff that other Christians do because I so desperately want to be able to walk into a Christian movie and be able to walk out giving it sparkling reviews. Hopefully that happens next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment