Review of The Little Hours (2017) by Alpha T — 06 Jul 2017
Prompted by a chance viewing of Nick Offerman's feed on my weekly visit to Twitter, I found that The Little Hours which was on my list of summer-what-to-sees, was playing today at my local theater. It's an interesting film, but confounding.
The beautiful, pastoral glow that cinematographer Quyen Tran lays down belays what could ultimately have been a broad spiritual comedy, a motion picture treatise on sexual identity in the old days, a morality play set against the vibrant background of Christianity, or even a horror film. All those elements are there. But none of them is embraced with much more than a historical bro-hug back pat.
That the cast mostly delivers their dialogue in a strongly modern way is an interesting experiment. Unfortunately, it's out of step with the film's excellent and simple design elements, which are loyal to the time period. Perhaps the point is that people back then were like us minus the technology? Or that we should see ourselves in those who came before us? Unfortunately, I'm not sure.
If you're a church goer, you're going to want to avoid this one. It'll only make you mad. Yes, history does teach that in the church there is a clear track record of small-mindedness, power-brokering and buffoonery. But the characters who have seemingly dedicated their whole lives to their calling here are too easily swayed by the tiniest temptation. This doesn't make for great world-building. If these folks gave up their lives to live in cloister, wouldn't they feel at least a little bit of guilt frolicking and seeking out orgiastic interactions of many different flavors?
Sexual but not overly gratuitous, spiritual but clearly critical of dogma and self-denial, funny but sparse in its reaching for jokes, the film is worth a viewing...but maybe not in the theater. It pains me to say so, because this is clearly a work of statement and love. If only the film knew what its heart was truly dedicated to, it might have been more engaging from the outset. In the end, the intentional vagaries left to our imagination here distract the viewer instead of drawing one in. I spent more time trying to figure out what paradigm I was meant to be experiencing than actually getting grabbed by the story.
See this film. But be a little more merciful to it than it is to its subject matter. You'll laugh more.
This review of The Little Hours (2017) was written by Alpha T on 06 Jul 2017.
The Little Hours has generally received mixed reviews.
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