Synopsis
Lord help us.
In the aftermath of a huge scandal, Trinitie Childs, the first lady of a prominent Southern Baptist Mega Church, attempts to help her pastor-husband, Lee-Curtis Childs, rebuild their congregation.
Directed by Adamma Ebo
In the aftermath of a huge scandal, Trinitie Childs, the first lady of a prominent Southern Baptist Mega Church, attempts to help her pastor-husband, Lee-Curtis Childs, rebuild their congregation.
Klaxonnez pour Jésus. Priez pour votre salut !, Hup für Jesus. Rette deine Seele, Посигналь Иисусу. Спаси свою душу., 홍크 포 지저스. 세이브 유어 소울, Pita por Jesús.Salva tu alma., 为耶稣鸣喇叭,拯救你的灵魂, Dudálj Jézusnak, mentsd meg a lelked, Toca la bocina para Jesús. Salva tu alma, צפור לישו. הצל את נשמתך., Трубе Исусу. Спасите своју душу, 耶穌拯救你的靈魂, Buzine por Jesus. Salve a Sua Alma., Zatrąb dla Jezusa, ocal swoją duszę, İsa için Korna Çal, Посигналь в ім’я Ісуса. Урятуй свою душу., Suona il clacson per Gesù. Salva la tua anima, Claxonați întru Isus. Mântuiți-vă., Potrubite za Isusa. Spasite svoju dušu.
Sterling K. Brown saying with absolute conviction “I am saving souls!” right before an ambulance drives by him is too good
The Ebo twins don’t have to do much to lampoon organized religion. It tends to handle that on its own, a daily parody within our communities and upon our screens and across our political spectrum. That’s particularly true in their debut feature, which is a satire in the way that NETWORK is a satire: sure, you’ll laugh, but it’s truthful enough and upsetting enough that you’ll probably leave the theater weeping. With the help of two incredibly committed performances from Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown, they peel back the layers of ego, delusion, and denial that fuel an eternally abusive industry, and their part-narrative, part-mockumentary approach crucially removes all ambiguity from the question of whether or not blind faith is a front. It always is, even if there’s nobody else around to hear it. Especially when there’s nobody else around to hear it.
Basically a high wire comedy act that tries to do a lot of things without everything landing. Some parts are amazing and some are a bit unneeded. Definitely promising though and could definitely benefit from editing. Still, Regina Hall, Nicole Beharie and Sterling K Brown are excellent. I think the best format for this idea is probably a tv show but still, what a fun movie.
I did in fact feel the power of the Lord when Sterling K Brown took his shirt off!!
As a biting satire on religion this hits the mark hard. Regina Hall gives one of her best performances and Sterling K. Brown does an equally compelling job of portraying Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs. The tonal shifts between the comedy and the serious subjects are a bit jarring and the mockumentary style doesn’t serve it well. That aside, it’s emotionally satisfying and the show business for profit aspect of religion is captured perfectly as well as the hypocrisy of it all.
Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall are really exceptional and give absolutely unflinching performances. Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul is a mockumentary that aims to lampoon megachurches and the surrounding culture that is ripe with hypocrisy. Despite the aforementioned performances from the leads, I did not really enjoy watching hardly any of this film. The criticisms levied at the church/religion amount to not much more than the super low hanging fruit. I couldn’t ever really discern if the tone was supposed to lean on the comedic, or if this was intended to be dead serious. I sort of hope they were going for the latter, because I only laughed a couple times during this watch. But if Honk for Jesus, Save…
This was cool and ambitious. It doesn't all work but I liked where it wanted to go and I got what it was trying to do even in the weak parts.
I know others didn't like how it shifted between the two tones, but that was actually my favorite part though some of it could've been edited better.
Favorite scene is Trinity dressed as the mime and how it switches between the documentary and drama formats to show her true feelings on the situation.
Sterling K Brown is great in this seedy role and someone lesser probably wouldn't have made it work but wow is this Regina Hall's movie through and through. She put on a show stopping performance.
Can't wait to see more from Adamma Ebo
HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL could’ve had a tighter edit but Sterling K. Brown & especially Regina Hall do so much heavy lifting they almost raise this religious satire to the heavens. The drama works better than the comedy with Hall delivering one hell of a monologue near the end. Lots of scathing commentary but needed a bit more focus.
Sundance #50