Programmed By Colin Geddes
The Sacrament (2013) ***1/2
Dir. Ti West
Starring: Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Kentucker Audley, Amy Seimetz, Gene Jones
Review By Greg Klymkiw
Why would a Christian commune, dedicated to the creation of a Heaven on Earth in homage to the pacifist principles of Jesus Christ, require armed guards? Are they there to keep people out or keep them in? Well, as we discover during the creepy slow burn of Ti West's new thriller The Sacrament, it's clearly a little of both. The name of the game in Eden Parish is secrecy which, like all religious cults (including most mainstream organized religions), is what keeps them powerful. Indoctrination, coercion, exploitation, deception and brainwashing are the key elements of all faith-based ministries or, if you will, industries. Some, however. are more extremist than most and such is the case with the religion/cult that Patrick's (Kentucker Audley) sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz) has fallen in with. Accompanied by Sam (AJ Bowen) and Jake (Joe Swanberg), two pals/colleagues from a major online multimedia news outlet, the trio journey to a strange, undisclosed island on foreign soil to investigate her whereabouts and well-being.
Armed only with cameras, the three men are initially freaked out by the surly and burly machine-gun-toting guards who guide them into the compound, but as they explore the inner workings of the camp - populated with those like Caroline who lost their way in the world through various addictions and found their way back to what seems to be a clean and green way of life - it begins to seem like Eden Parish is not without merit.
The silver lining, however, is just that. Tranquility in the parish is only skin deep. As they slowly begin to notice an alarming number of aberrations, they fear for their own lives as well as those who are not quite fitting in to the extremist views of the charismatic cult leader, Father (Gene Jones). In addition to being charming, persuasive and highly intelligent, Father, an oft-cool-shades-adorned fleshy orator with definite fascist undertones is a downright creep - a skilfully malevolent manipulator and exploiter.
This is one chilling, scary-ass movie that grabs you very early in the proceedings and doesn't let up - steadily mounting in its intensity until a climax that will have you begging for mercy. There are no cheap shocks and the violence is always muted, roiling jus below the surface. I doubt Mr. West is a student of the late, great Val Lewton (most young contemporary filmmakers have yet to make his acquaintance), but if he is, I'm not surprised and if he isn't, he should be since he still has a few tricks to learn from a real master. (God knows, Scorsese, Friedkin and many other greats continue to acknowledge their debt to Lewton.) With this film and his previous effort, the fun and scary paranormal thriller The Innkeepers, West is proving to be a potential master of finding chills, thrills and evil in dark, yet unlikely corners and like Lewton, his genre indulgences are about so much more than the simple, but effective narrative coat hangers he adorns his explorations of humanity on.
One element that doesn't quite hold up in the movie is the inconsistencies with respect to the film within the film - the documentary that the trio is making on Eden Parish. Most of the time, we're carried along by the sheer force of West's fine direction, but occasionally, we're ripped out of the proceedings by some of the intrusive title cards that remind us we're watching a finished product that's already gone viral. It occasionally takes us a bit of time to get back into the otherwise riveting trajectory of the tale. It also suggests that someone will escape the evil, though in fairness, we're never sure who and just how many are getting out.
This is, though, a bit of a drag because the movie has a kind of paranoia-infused 70s sensibility that suggests we might be cascading into a completely hope-bereft conclusion. That we're treated to a tiny taste of hope so early and so consistently doesn't quite fit the form. I even wondered if, at any point during the post-production process, West and his team gave the old college try to mute the film within the film stuff, toss the title cards and use the more obvious doc-styled footage "naturally" within the narrative and actions of the characters rather than the manner in which they are employed. Part of me thinks, based upon the coverage that appears onscreen, that this might have been a worthy pursuit. Then again, I wasn't sitting in the fucking edit suite, so what the fuck do I know? Maybe it was a consideration and didn't work, but I do hate to think it wasn't at least tried.
My only other quarrel with the picture is that it's full of babes and there's a fair bit of talk and suggestion of boink-o-rama activity in Eden Parish. No offence, but the issue of sex within the compound is brought up and that we get nary a flash of said activity is a bit like introducing a loaded gun into a scene and not firing it. Let's not forget the immortal nude harvest dance in the original 70s The Wicker Man - totally creepy and hubba-hubba-sexy.
But, I digress.
Happily, the performances from all the leads in The Sacrament are top of the line and it's to West's undying credit and great eye that the picture features the finest use of extras and background performers I've seen in any recent movie. If, however, there is anything resembling justice, Jesus and/or the God of Abraham on Planet Hollywood, Gene Jones as Father deserves as many supporting actor accolades as it is possible to bestow upon someone - including an Oscar nomination. This is no chew-the-scenery nonsense that so many more established stars will barf up when they play a villain - Jones is malevolence-incarnate because his performance is brilliantly muted.
You might remember Gene Jones from the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men during the famous coin-toss scene which, for me, was the performance in that movie that set the bar and proved the old adage: "There are no small parts..." Here, though, West has given Gene Jones the role of a lifetime. I sincerely hope Jones's work in The Sacrament is recognized, acknowledged and propulsive. The world needs more character actors of his calibre and I demand that he become as gloriously ubiquitous as Edward Arnold, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Huston, Charles Durning, Ned Beatty, Hume Cronyn, Paul Giamatti and every other great actor who more than propped up their fair share of pictures, but also created a myriad of living, breathing human beings who somehow, with their very appearance made their own work and that of everyone else touched with a bit of that old silver screen immortality.
All in all, The Sacrament is a terrific little thriller and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Maybe that will be enough to change my curmudgeonly nattering about the film within the film elements and the lack of sex. Probably not, but it won't matter. I like the picture - a lot!!!
"The Sacrament" is programmed by the brilliant Colin Geddes in the TIFF Vanguard series at the Toronto International Film Festival 2013 (#TIFF13). Get your tickets at the TIFF website HERE.