The Penitent Man

If you've seen K-Pax then you'll know what it's like when a film with a great premise and fully committed wonderful actors manages to create a reverse alchemy- a movie which is less than the sum of its parts.

Lance is intense and fascinating to watch as ever, and his face carries the burden of world weary regret wonderfully, but no-one else can quite reach the bar he sets.

The two-handed sessions are interesting, but never quite reach the heights of true insight, being entertaining rather than revelatory.

The main theme of the nature of Fate is fascinating, and the premise sound, but as others have noticed it would have made for a wonderful 30 minutes rather than a rather laborious 90.

Watch it by all means, but see it as a dress rehearsal for a potential classic short film rather than the rather vapid exercise it turns out to be.

This had the potential to be an excellent film but unfortunately drifted into mediocrity. This low/no budget time travel sci-fi drama started out with all the signs of being a hidden gem in the footsteps of "The man from Earth" before it tragically stumbles.

An interesting premise combines with some interesting dialogue for a not too preachy societal commentary. Had they focussed more on a theme of personal growth, the time travel aspect or possibly even the societal commentary angle then this one could have unearthed the gem that remained buried. As it is, it is more of a muddled mess.

Acting Henrickson and Keegan turn in good performances. The remainder should probably leave this one off their resumes.

Writing was excellent in the first half of the film sliding into tired for the conclusion.

Low budget so don't look for miracles in terms of soundtrack or cinematography and as expected special effects were no existent.

Overall...

Not sorry I saw it but unlikely to recommend it. If you have a couple hours with nothing more interesting to waste it on, give this one a look.

I recently saw "The Penitent Man" at the Seattle premiere early this week. The two main actors, Lance Henriksen and Lathrop Walker, performed very well. The soundtrack was appropriate and professional. In my opinion, what was supposed to be undertone was overtly obvious. The movie itself had interesting points and almost not surprisingly was written in two weeks. The director, who also co-wrote and produced the film, is very young and it is apparent that it is early in his career. There were places in the film that were overly tense and suspenseful feeling awkward and tearing the viewer away from the relationship trying to be established with the characters. This movie had potential based on the storyline idea but fell flat in the end.

The Penitent Man is a thought-provoking psychological drama starring a small cast that is big on talent. The plot, though not unique, has intriguing twists that keep you engaged during the film and talking about it for days following. Short on budget, The Penitent Man lacks the action and special effects that many movie-goers are accustomed to but it has the appeal of fringe productions that garner a cult following. The film, which premiered in January 2010, was shot in Seattle and featured both seasoned Hollywood actors and fresh local talent. The young (23) director, Nicholas Gyeney, shows incredible promise… keep your eyes on him in the future years.

This low budget, slow moving movie with many local actors starts with an interesting idea about time travel (easily guessed early on) and stretches it to fill an hour and a half of mostly dialogue and background music. I'm sure everyone earnestly participated and did their best to make this a long shot that would wow the world with the "deep" ideas discussed and the sincere efforts of the "wonderfully talented" writer, director, and cast. It really is mediocre. The interesting part is to read the glowing reviews of all the participants' contributions and the "fabulous" concepts explored by the movie. The praise is so over the top that anyone can see who wrote these reviews. I guess I can't really rely on a film with a score above 7 to be worth checking out. This is the world we live in.