Movie Information

Release Date: February 28, 2014

Director: Philippe Caland

Writer: Shintaro Shimosawa, Philippe Caland 

Cast: Forest Whitaker, Anthony Mackie, Mike Epps, Sanaa Lathan, NIcole Ari Parker, Ariana Neal, Denise Milfort, Selma Pinkard, Avery Edward Landry, Margo Swisher, Adella Gautier, Jessica Medina, Gina Blocker, Peter Weller, Ashley Toman, Terri Batte, Betsy Clark
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 90 mins
By: Tommy 2.0 LLC, Codeblack Entertainment
Genre: Horror Thriller
Language: English
Country: USA

If it wasn’t obvious to you already, one thing is for sure after watching Repentance, and that’s acknowledging the fact that Forest Whitaker has some serious acting chops! I was blown away again by his performance. He is a world class actor, and it’s always a pleasure witnessing his talent on the big screen. He’s convincing in every scene, and every role as he plays both sides of the coin of a desperate bipolar psychopath dead set on getting answers. It a shame the rest of the film doesn’t measure up to the high praise Mr. Whitaker deserves. He is the only shining light here as everyone else is dull, miscast, and out of place. This film didn’t receive much attention through marketing and it’s probably due to the studio recognizing they had a feature that was only half baked. This film is only 90 minutes and I’ll discuss the problem with that later. In the meantime meet Angel Sanchez (Forest Whitaker), a loving father and ex-husband (separated, divorced, or just father of child is never explained) to Sophi Sanchez (Nicole Ari Parker). As I stated earlier Whitaker’s performance (especially in the third act) is dynamite! I won’t go as far as oscar worthy (first because it’s too early in the year, and second the rest of the film is a distraction), but it does deserve honorable mention at the very least. Angel has a deep love for his mother as most would. It’s clear he would go to the ends of the earth for her, but we never get to meet her or see what’s so loving about her character. We just get glimpses of her from the view of a clearly deranged, man scarring everyone he encounters. It would’ve been nice to see them share a character moment or get an idea of what Angel’s mother is so passionate about. It would have added to an already fleshless story. On another note we have Tommy and Ben Carter (Mackie and Epps) who are brothers I’m assuming from the same mother. The biggest problem with the films comes from these two and their story. The problem is not necessarily with their performance but the horrific material and direction their given. To begin the first thing I don’t understand how Epps character can have a strong Louisiana accent but the other brother not. The accent is shoved down our throats in Epps opening scene, but then disappears in the wind through the rest of the film. I also think Anthony Mackie is a pretty decent actor but he feels miscast here. I’m still on the fence if it was his acting I wasn’t a fan of or his transition towards the beginning of the film that’s completely unrealistic. I’m not hater and never want to talk down on what someone can achieve through hard work, but when you go from a drunk driving, pop smoking irresponsible, to a double doctorate (Theology and Clinical Psychology), life coaching, published writer in a period of 4 years questions start to rise. I just simply don’t buy it so I can never connect with his character. These three characters and a few more come together due to an accident. It’s an accident that is never fully investigated and over looked to serve a plot point that never comes to fruition. At the end of the film I still didn’t know who to root for, because my moral compass was thrown around like a yo-yo. The accident could have solve a ton of problem and answered many questions if the writer decided to lean towards it. Though I’m supposed to believe a normal police report isn’t filed when a car crashes into a telephone pole knocking the car out of commission.  Another issue I had was the 3rd act of the film replaces the 2nd. I complained early about the film only being 90 minutes because the characters and plot weren’t fleshed out. We didn’t get to know Angel’s mother, their relationship, his wife (or mother of his child), or any clue on how angel figures out the puzzle. I remember taking Calculus back in school and sometimes I was lucky enough to provide the correct answer. I still received no credit because I didn’t find a solution. That’s the same case here as we’re just supposed to assume Angel has all the answers without showing how he got there. It did though lead to great acting an intense torcher scenes which had me at the end of my seat. Only if these scenes where placed on hold to give more substance to the audience and they would have been more appreciated.  On one end portions of this film one could be proud of. When you’re an actor, you can only do your part and have no control over the final product. It doesn’t matter if you know your lines in and out, practice them every day, and give the best performance one can give. It all holds no weight unfortunately if the rest of the production doesn’t share you passion and hard work. Repentance is the perfect example of that. Great acting by one but the rest are easily forgettable. A story that’s too short but still drags, and a story that doesn’t take into account real time and realistic expectations of getting an education.