“Repentance,” which hits theaters today was directed by Philippe Caland. Written by Caland and Shintaro Shimosawa and stars Forest Whitaker, Anthony Mackie, Mike Epps, Nicole Ari Parker and Sanaa Lathan.
How far would you go to seek repentance? Would you revisit your actions and ignore what you’ve done? Would you try to become the best person you can be? In his third feature film, Philippe Caland tackles on this idea and how a person, who has gone down a wrong path for so long, tries to turn his life around. Caland attempts to create a psychological thriller, while adding in numerous elements. While ambitious, he may have bit off more than he could chew. Lifted by two powerful performances, there’s an idea behind “Repentance” that shows it could have been a great movie, but it settles on being just a watchable movie, which isn’t always a bad thing.
“Repentance” opens up with a flashback to a previous time. Tommy (Mackie) and his brother Ben (Epps) are out driving around while intoxicated when Tommy accidentally hits someone. The car then flips over and crashes into a tree, knocking Tommy and Ben out for a few moments unsure of what just happened. Jump four years into the future — Tommy Carter has reinvented himself as a therapist/spiritual advisor who has written a book titled, “Don’t Look Back.” While at an event to sponsor his book, he meets a man who is deeply troubled in Angel Sanchez (Whitaker). Sanchez has had a difficult time getting over the death of his mother and when he asks if Tommy does one-on-one sessions, Tommy declines.
Back at home, Tommy is asleep with his wife Maggie (Lathan) when they get an unexpected visitor–Ben. Ben is looking for a place to crash and Tommy decides to help him out. The next day, Tommy comes home to find Ben, who has been beat up pretty badly. Ben tells Tommy that he needs money to repay his debt or else certain people will kill him. Tommy, at first declining to help his brother, decides to take on Angel as a patient and help him out. Tommy does his best with Angel, who claims that he still sees his mother all around him and that she’s still there. There’s much more to Angel’s problems than meet the eye, which may not be such good news for Tommy.
“Repentance” is a bit of a mixed bag. Looking at the positives, the acting of both Forest Whitaker and Anthony Mackie has to be admired. At this point in his career, a solid performance from Whitaker isn’t all that surprising. Mackie has been around for a while and is getting recognized for his work so to see him go head to head with Whitaker isn’t surprising, as well. On the other end, Caland tries hard to blend the psychological tone of the film along with more spiritual and magical elements and throughout the movie it just gets a bit messy. One of the more distracting elements of the film had to be the music, which really was just a bit much at times. Music is obviously supposed to manipulate the audience and bring out emotion, but composer Mark Kilian’s score seems more fitting for a soap opera.
What makes “Repentance” an interesting watch is the twist and turns that are provided by the script of Caland and Shimosawa. Itcertainly doesn’t have the strongest script, but it’s good enough that the film can keep you guessing while keeping you hooked in to the events unfolding. “Repentance” may suffer from familiar and overused cliches and tropes, but there’s enough originality that helps move the movie forward, while making it unpredictable. It is a good thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seats.
-Joshua Kaye
