Come Sunday (2018)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Enjoyed movie. Great casting. A must see for everyone. Thank you netwfilx for making this moving. Kept my attention the entire time. Again a must see movie for everyone.

And then, the non-religious film lover watched COME SUNDAY, and he was struck by the light of amazement. For he had seen a film about belief and faith that did NOT overwhelm him with cheesy imagery, flat dialogue, or flip-flopping character arcs that made no sense as the players struggled with the deciphering of the Lord's word... No, THIS was a film that impressed him.No, really. I mean that in every word.COME SUNDAY stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, an actor with a name that I have to copy and paste every single time I write it. He first impressed me when I saw him play the ruthless assassin in SERENITY, and ever since then, he's consistently been amazing in every role I've seen him play. Going into this film, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.As I said in my mostly joking opening, I am not a religious man. It's a topic I've struggled with for most of my life, and for the most part, I'm on the side of the atheists, believing that there's no proof, so there must be no "God". But I have to say. This film has me wondering.Having girlfriends that have been very religious seems to be a theme with me, and so far every one that I've been really serious about has loved "the Lord" in constant vigil. And, what you can expect goes along with that territory, for a man who's either on the fence or on the opposite side of the fence, there've been more than a few heated arguments over the years. None of which I've successfully won, because let's face it, even when you win a fight with your lover, you seem to lose. It is here that I have witnessed some very poor cinema, with regards to the Almighty.More on that in a bit, though.COME SUNDAY is about a preacher who has a moment of... divine intervention, it seems, when he watches the massacres of Rwanda on the television of 1998. It is here that his faith is most questioned, the simple argument being that those that are not saved must go to Hell, in this case being the 400,000 children that were murdered without question. How could children who had no chance in life be sent to Hell, simply because they were born in the wrong place? And thus, the preacher's dilemma begins. Because as he shrieks in pain witnessing such horrors, the voice of "God" speaks to him.Smartly, the director (Joshua Marsden, whom I regret to say I've never seen any other movies of--YET) chooses not to attempt to simulate the Lord's voice, instead simply showing our preacher (the real person, Carlton Pearson) simply struck by a thought in his head, without verbal acceptance or bolts of lightning. Instead, it ends up being more of a moment of enlightenment. A vision, if you will. A shift in his perspective. And when all is said and done, he declares to a church full of believers, that he no longer believes in Hell.This of course sits very poorly with his miraculous band of white and black worshippers, who cannot accept what comes from his lips, with even Martin Sheen (FINALLY given the chops that this fantastic actor is due, instead of just sliding him in for face value) playing the real Oral Roberts, telling our preacher that it is most likely the Devil that is doing the speaking in Carlton's head, not the Lord. And thus, the movie unfolds.This is not a Lifetime movie, where you get useless platitudes and patched-together stories fixed by quick writing adjustments, to stand in for real deliverance and destiny--this is challenging, believable fare, and wonderfully done at that.It's not perfect... There are moments when the pacing of the film slows things down a bit, but the absolutely BEAUTIFUL shots that pull the pieces together do a wonderful job of trying to keep things moving, and there are no actors who do not deliver one hundred percent in every scene they are in.When all was said and done, I was more than happy that I was able to watch, for the first time, a movie about faith and religion that made me want to believe that such things were real, and such people were possible. This is a true event tale, supported strongly by what I'm still trying to accept which is now a FILM STUDIO based off of the really incredible radio show and briefly done television show on pay cable that I used to watch, created by Ira Glass, THIS AMERICAN LIFE, which is about as close to real, HARD truth as you're ever going to get. It is as wonderful as it is painful to absorb, but certainly one of the greatest things that has ever been attempted or created.I will watch this again, and I did love this film tremendously. I recommend that everybody watch it, and make your arguments one way or the other, even if what you see shocks and/or offends you. This, after all, is the purpose of great art.And of great cinema.

Acting goodI liked the actors. I didn't like the plot. A "crisis of faith" normally means debating whether God exists. The "crisis of faith" advertising was misleading.

Yes you've got it, I don't believe in any of it. But the film was a decent portrayal of someone who does, but then asks questions of their own belief, that's true enlightenment. As Voltaire very cleverly put it, " if God didn't exist, man would have to create him ". Make no mistake there has to be a creative power, I just happen to be one of those who thinks we don't and never have been able to comprehend it. All of human history has had a Heaven, be it Valhalla or Nirvana, basically a fear of mortality. Hell in the modern sense was a late arrival, if you crossed the river Styx, it was just the dead underworld. Hell and demons take centre stage with the advent of Christianity or specifically Catholicism. All pagan gods now become the hierarchy of demonology. All heretics are doomed to hell, salvation must be sought or bought. Christ threw out money lenders, so Christians could be millionaires. If I lie, strike me down now, Aaaaarrrrrgghh.