Imagine a night of fun in the Louisiana bayou with family and friends that turns into a nightmare that you never forget…
Repentance, a psychological thriller, tells the story of life-coach and author Thomas Carter (played by Anthony Mackie), who is approached at a book signing for an autograph and one-on-one counseling mysteriously abducted by an unbalanced client, Angel Sanchez (Forest Whitaker). Against better judgment, Carter agrees to take on Angel as a new client, so that he can assist with paying off a debt for his brother Ben (played by Mike Epps). What Carter does not realize is that Angel has done his homework on the therapist as he delves into his teachings and uses his spiritual messages of Karma (Vipaka—action and reaction) against him to create “hell on earth” for Carter and his family so that they can own up to their past sins. Very quickly, the client becomes the judge and jury.
Repentance, directed by Philippe Caland, and stars Forest Whitaker, Anthony Mackie, Mike Epps, Nicole Ari Parker, and Sanaa Lathan. This 2014 picture offers viewers a front row seat to a deep, dark, twisted secret but, unfortunately, the journey to the film’s revelations is very anticlimactic. Just think of Repentance as a cross between Misery, What Lies Beneath, and Eve’s Bayou. Repentance relays a failed effort at a psychological portraiture thriller film that just happens to throw in a few scenes of pointless tension and forced torture scenes. What the movie does well is provide the necessary (and, at times, overcompensated) shock and suspense of the genre.
As a whole, Repentance lacks in character development. Thomas turns out to be an inflexible, hypocritical, phony counselor and Angel (to no surprise) is essentially a second-generation, down-graded male version of Kathy Bates’ character in Misery. Then you have the secondary and minor characters Ben (Epps) who is more of a plot point than a character, existing primarily as the keeper of his brother’s dark secret; Maggie (Thomas’ wife; played by Lathan), a very minor role as an ungrateful, yoga instructor; and, finally, Sophie (Angel’s wife; played by Ari Parker) makes a very brief, short-lived appearance until more than halfway through the film. Basically, the female characters become nonentities and impassioned placeholders.
Director Philippe Caland, a French-Lebanese immigrant, is a filmmaker with a unique career in Hollywood. He has done everything from producing to a few entrepreneurial efforts. Caland provides a momentarily intriguing film that could have had a compelling and riveting storyline, but falls to hit the mark. As an Academy Award winning actor Whitaker, who has much better roles and has worked with Caland before, (i.e. The Last King of Scotland, The Butler, Repo Men) finds himself taking on a “wow-less” role in an implausible, far-fetched script. Obviously shot on a very small budget, both Caland and director of photography Denis Maloney fail to take advantage of the authentic New Orleans surroundings resulting in a boring, visual feature film.
All in all, Repentance becomes a film that is ultimately formulaic with a predictable, disappointing ending. Even with commendable performance from both Whitaker and Mackie, it’s not enough to carry the film to the finish line. At a certain point, the viewer quickly loses interest and must suffer through to the end.
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