jeffpk

The chataqua tent revival meeting has a long standing history in religion in the US. Despite the addition of modern production techniques, the fundamentals remain mostly the same.

This is a gentle, good natured movie that shows all the ugliness behind the scenes and yet still leaves us sympathetic to the characters and their issues.

Probably the best movie i have ever seen for understanding the phenomenon of the revival tent meeting.

I really couldn't give this movie more then a 5.

The writing is stilted, the characters two-dimensional (if that) and the lead actress's primary qualities are...well... her primary qualities. She looks fantastic standing still with her mouth shut. Unfortunately her acting is awful and her stage fighting looks like a 10 year old playing "batman."

The makeup is amateurish, but the animation is okay and the CG frankly is surprisingly good, mostly demonstrating just how cheap and easy basic CG has become.

Over all it plays like a film written by high-school students, acted by first year college students and a porn star, with sfx done by mildly talented upper class college students. Despite all that, or maybe because of it, it has a genuine charm and appeal on the pure camp level. Sort of like the 60s Batman TV show.

If you enjoy camp, then go for it. But otherwise give it a wide miss.

This is really a mess of a movie. It has a few interesting ideas, and some interesting but not always consistent imagery, but in the end fails to deliver on any of the questions it sets up. Like the "shows within the show" the movie seems most of the time to just do things for shock value and no other narrative purpose.

If David Lynch had a totally incoherent dream (for David Lynch), this might be it. Lynch at least teases us with a feeling of connectedness and gives us some kind of ending. This movie fails to do either.

The cinematographer should get credit for his sometimes striking visuals, but that's about all there is to this film.