Christian Movies!

It had been at least 10 years since I walked into the Family Christian bookstore around the corner from where I went to high school in Costa Mesa. I used to go there on weekdays in the lull between the end of the school day and the start of theater practice. I went there for music, and Tooth and Nail records was all the rage. With the exception of Wish For Eden and Everdown, I bought nearly everything that had the labels name on it, and Family was my Christian music dispensary of choice. Half the store was CD’s, and the rest of it could have been stocked with groceries for all I cared. It was my music place.

Revisiting Family Christian bookstore 10 years later was sort of disheartening. What used to be rows of CD’s was a sparse collection of music comprised of worship leaders and things they play on KFSH. Taking its place was the hot new Christian media – the DVD. Several aisles of colorful DVD’s, sitting right next to a DVD player that would censor out the naughty bits of whatever you were watching, which was certainly nothing carried on the shelves. In fact, they even have 30 dollar versions of your favorite secular movies, without any of the aforementioned corruptible content.

Recently, I spoke with filmmaker David DiSabatino for conversantlife.com (he made “Frisbee: Life and Death of A Hippie Preacher”) and our conversation reminded me of this visit. We were talking about the Jesus People movement. In his mind, the downfall to this remarkable movement of God came when the church stepped in and softened things, effectively changing the wine back to water. This soon led into a conversation about Christian music and Christian movies. Christian movies have an identity crisis on their hands, and all we need to do is go back a few years and learn again from what Christian music has been through. What started out great has with few exceptions continued to be a joke, with CD’s that I can’t help but think say the Lord’s name in vain more than Eminem’s latest album.

Now, taking the place of CD’s are colorful DVD’s. They are separated by genre such as comedy, drama, and other forms of Christian DVD’s that want to hang out with your wallet. Like music 10 years ago, the tools were there for independent artists to make music, but they were just out of reach. The tools to make Christian movies are so close, but still a bit far off in terms of what is needed in any form of accessibility. There’s no Guitar Center for filmmaking gear. By contrast, radio friendly tunes can be made in the living room or the studio by anyone with a half decent computer.

Movies are close, but the problem is money. We need money to make the media, and we need someone to hand it over. Said person wants to give you the money if they know that they will make more back. Problem is, once we start making movies for the faithful, we lose. Do you know anyone who isn’t a believer that was jonesing for the Left Behind trilogy on DVD? Haven’t we learned yet from Christian music?

The genre of “Christian film” is saturated with overly dramatic faith crisis’s that hinge on life and death decisions, the rapture, funeral services, and generally unrealistic depictions of humanity. These unrealistic depictions are most plain in the end of the film’s, which always promise a conversion sequence and canned “hope.” It’s as subtle as Lady Gaga. More so, it’s embarrassing. But the people with the money to finance these projects turned giddy when Mel Gibson opened up the heavens, and they want in. For them, if your movie can’t be shown at church and accompanied with a study guide for a few dollars more, it won’t see the light of day. And just what kind of a film will get shown in church on movie night? Check the racks at your local Christian retailer.

The opposite is certainly true – movies in general don’t get made unless they can make money back. I recognize the common sense aspect of this; we all have to make a living. And yes, content is often vulgar in movies and not suitable for families. I am not equivalating Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Toy Story. The difference is that we have a voice about the unseen, and in this time of uncertainty we should feel a Jeremiah like burn to open up our mouths and make art that means something. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t care about how much more money it could make back if we tweaked things to white bread absurdity. We should piss people off, rattle cages, and make people talk. It doesn’t have to have special effects, or labels on the cover like “Hollywood production values!” to make it worthwhile. It should simply mean something. Instead, we are so contented to sit next to what is safe and easy. Again, I reference the growing Christian movie genre as evidence.

Artsandfaith.com recently listed their top 100 films that combine…art and faith. Alongside Bresson, Tarkovsky, and Bergman sit one of a handful of modern day films that fits their perplexing choices (Punch Drunk Love is my favorite film of all time, but how it ended up as #85 is head scratching). The film is “Frisbee: Life and Death of A Hippie Preacher.” So, instead of picking up the next colorful DVD box with smiling white families or people who dress like white people, try something different. We don’t need Christian media – music, film, or otherwise. We need truth and beauty. If we can express that honestly, perhaps we will avoid repeating the past. Perhaps we will be taken seriously.

Flipped

Coming of age films are a favorite of mine. There is a certain quality to this genre that reaches me unlike any other. Children know blunt emotion at its simplest and most raw – happy, sad, angry, nervous – while adults attach more convoluted subcategories to these feelings. Seeing kids experience these feelings on screen takes us back to our own childhoods to when we first felt them. A good coming age film will remind us and make us feel those feelings again.

In Rob Reiner’s latest film “Flipped” (adapted from the book of the same name), Juli Baker and Bryce Loski describe their journey to and from first love with one another. The uniqueness of the film is that each section of is replayed so that each character narrates their male and female point of view of the same scenario. The effect provides an original take on the traditional romantic film. What one character saw as love, the other was narrating as annoyance. When one character describes passion, the other sees crazy.

My expectations ran high for “Flipped.” Reiner is a proven director whose films span multiple genres, with numerous classics that solidify his body of work in cinema history – “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Spinal Tap," and “A Few Good Men” are all to his name. Each film sits at the front end of their respective genres. Additionally, "Stand By Me" is among the greatest coming of age stories ever made.

And while "Flipped" should be outstanding, it is merely decent. It appears to be simple and warm, but something gets lost along the way. I don’t think it’s much fault of the actors – the cast is mostly great, with extra nods to Aidan Quinn as Richard, and Madeline Carroll as Juli (Richard’s daughter). Carroll’s full of charm and appeal, easily the most likeable part of the film and the one with whom the audience will eventually side, if not right away. Quinn’s character reaches some genuinely intense highs and reserved lows – all played with believability. The Father/Daughter bond with its joys and conflicts feels great.

One of the elements that keeps the film in average territory is its familiarity. The memory of Reiner’s classic “Stand By Me” is present in the setting and tone, perhaps to a fault (The film is even liberally graced with 50’s and early 60’s doo-wop standards, including the song “Stand By Me”). Additionally, while the film is ripe territory for clever, the cross sexes observations don’t seem as charming as they could be. Appealing and grin worthy, yes, but hardly laugh out loud hilarious.

The film also struggles to find its balance. On the one hand, we have cliché’s of family movies that play things really safe – a kind Grandfather who is clearly the most wise, or the buttoned up Mom who seem to be wide eyed and gasped at their children’s outlandish acts (such as a child’s funny faux pas at dinner), etc. Yet, there are scenes where we see some oddly placed foul language and a particularly intense Father/Daughter confrontation.

To its credit, there appears to be earnest warmth in the film and I sense Reiner’s love of simple feelings is present. The territory is deep and can potentially inspire great conversations - love, loss, disability, Father/Daughter and Father/Son dynamics, etc. That it’s set in its early 60’s time period is Reiner’s choice, and I think the film benefits as a result. Reiner knows this era – it’s the one he experienced childhood in. It’s a very cute story, and the double perspective style is fun (if slightly tiresome by the end of the film’s 90 minutes). The cinematography appears beautiful in some scenes with warm autumn tones, even if the landscapes appear digitally manipulated.

Perhaps it’s because Pixar has spoiled me with what I expect in a family film – hilarious for kids and adults, but genuinely heartfelt. Perhaps my expectations from Reiner were unrealistic to begin with, but I can’t help but feel that this film was waiting to be placed in the front of the line of great coming of age kids movies like “The Sandlot,” “Simon Birch,” or the excellent “Millions.”

As I've thought about it more, I've appreciated it more, but it just seems too safe, and strangely not safe enough. While Juli’s character is especially endearing, there are too few laughs, and the emotional depth is fairly limited in spite of the ripe territory. I recommend “Flipped” for families who are tired of explosions as mindless summer blockbusters come to a close. It will certainly recall memories of first love for parents and inspire some great conversations with the kids.