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 t's no secret that the vast majority of filmmakers have a
morbid and even twisted outlook on life. The same holds true for many film
critics whose job it is to declare a movie worthwhile or not. I've never felt
the need to immediately brand a movie seething in nihilism and brimming with all
the perversities that life can offer a "work of genius". You'll excuse
me if I don't think finding the most awful thing in the whole wide world and
showing it for 2 nonstop hours and calling it a "movie" is all that
difficult to do. By the same token, I don't feel it necessary to immediately pan
a movie for its life-affirming message. I call that keeping an open mind.
The fact is, the more film critics heap undue praise on a
movie that offers nothing but reasons to slit one's wrist, the more these type
of films will be made by freshly minted film students with delusions of being
even more pretentious than they already are. Not surprisingly, films like
"Charly", which seeks to show the good side of life, continues to come
out in trickles, while its "kill yourself, life sucks" counterpart
continue to get cranked out by the dozens as if on an assembly line. After all,
one can't be "daring" unless one has absolutely nothing good to say
about life. You'll excuse me if I don't find that particularly
"insightful". And also how "daring" can your movie really be
if 5,000 other film school grads are doing the exact same thing at the exact
same time? Throw in incest and gay themes and you'll be sure to win film critic
awards.
The above rant out of the way, "Charly" is a
distinctly pro-religion movie starring Heather Beers as the titular Charly, a
free-spirited young woman who arrives in Utah to stay with her family. Charly is
a New Yorker, a city girl to the core, and when she meets upstanding Mormon Sam
(Jeremy Elliot), Charly is ready to have some fun. Not with Sam, mind you, but
rather at his expense. All that changes when she realizes that Sam's deeply
religious beliefs are not only worth exploring, but having done so she discovers
they fill the empty void inside her that she didn't even know existed. And as
Charly starts to change, so does Sam.
Essentially a grown up version of "A
Walk to Remember", "Charly" stars two very charming actors
who do amazing jobs. Jeremy Elliot (as the uptight Mormon) and Heather Beers
have excellent chemistry and their scenes together are very believable. The
presence of two very capable leads is a definite plus since the movie demands a
lot out of them. We get a comedic first act, followed by a romantic second act,
and a melodramatic third act. Of
particular note is the film's final 30 minutes, where the two actors break your heart
with their performances.
"Charly" would seem to fit nicely into the
expanding niche of religious films like "Joshua"
and the "Left
Behind" series, even though it doesn't exactly hit one over the head
with religion. Also, I'm sure the Mormon religion is different from
Christianity, but I couldn't really tell you since I'm neither Mormon nor
Christian. There are a number of religious motifs that appear courtesy of
director Adam Thomas Anderegg, and like "Walk", "Charly"
seems less concern with selling the religion than it is about focusing on the
notion of faith, and the strong character and conviction one must possess in
order to fully embrace it. I've often heard people refer to the acceptance of
faith as some sort of weakness; if anything, I believe clinging to faith at all
costs shows a stronger character trait than those who mocks it. It's easy to
dismiss something intangible like faith, but it takes real strength to hold onto
it.
That's not to say "Charly" is perfect. The
movie's first 20 minutes may be its weakest. Janine Whetten-Gilbert's dialogue,
especially the things we hear come out of Charly's mouth, is downright silly at
times. In an effort to be too "city girl" (i.e. hip and intellectual)
Charly utters some unnatural sounding lines. Thankfully the film is very well
put together by director Anderegg, and the pacing is fluid and never boring.
"Charly" is probably the most expensive of the "religious
movies" I've seen yet. Its aesthetics is on par with your average Hollywood
film, which is good to see because I've often bemoaned the poor quality of films
in this niche.
"Charly" is not a film for everyone. If your idea
of a great movie requires the story to either depress the hell out of you or
make you want to toss back a bottle of sleeping pills so you can escape this
miserable experiment called life, then "Charly" will only make you
angry. Despite the movie's somber Third Act, this isn't a depressing film at
all. It's about faith and the reaffirmation of life and, in a way, the
afterlife. So if you can't stop yourself from snickering at the idea that a
movie can make you look at life with a smile, then you needn't bother with
"Charly". You're already beyond hope; mind as well grab those pill
bottles and end it now.
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