Denis Villeneuve’s 2013 film, Prisoners, is somewhat unique among the movies discussed on this blog. The aim with this site is to track religious and spiritual themes that may be subtextual, but this film literally starts with Hugh Jackman reciting The Lord’s Prayer. In-universe, this is because he and his son are hunting. But we also catch onto the idea that asking the Lord to deliver them from evil perhaps has some bearing on things that are to come. This... Read more
Let me say up front with this piece that … deriving truth from artifice is the bedrock of what we do here at Sublime Cinema. There are good things, even divine things, to be discovered in texts that were not necessarily holy by design. That is true of every film we discuss here, and that is absolutely true of a film like Gone with the Wind, a story which romanticizes a movement that fought to preserve the “right” to own... Read more
While I do try to write for an interfaith audience, I’ll acknowledge up and front that my own Christian history does color everything that I write here. But today’s film marks a unique opportunity to speak a little more directly to other religious traditions. The titular character in François Dupeyron’s Monsieur Ibrahim is a Turkish, Muslim shopkeeper who becomes very important in the life of Moses “Momo,” a young kid living in 1960s France. The first time we see 16-year-old Momo,... Read more
Here’s a question to mull over this Christmas season: when we talk of Christ and his ultimate gift, who is the gift for? When does Christ’s hand of mercy really reveal itself? Certainly, I think that when Christ instructs us in Matthew 25: 40, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,” he was referring to people who might say, “I’m not worth it. If you really... Read more
The aim of this site is to help film lovers better discern the glimmers of divinity and goodness in the films that inform our culture and our individual souls. This is, admittedly, a little difficult at times given just how rotten Hollywood can be at what often feels like a foundational level. Hollywood itself isn’t particularly shy about this and even gets in on this sometimes by offering little confessionals, films exploring the rancidness of the Hollywood machine. Of course,... Read more
It sometimes surprises people who know me to learn that I spent a season working with boys with behavioral disabilities, kids with tons of potential who were facing significant crossroads. So I have some context for the relationship between Matt Damon and Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Don’t give me too much credit, though. I wish I could say I was as good at my job as Robin Williams was at his. Gus Van Sant’s 1997 film, Good Will... Read more
Sorry for not specifying in the title, I was trying to keep the length somewhat manageable, but this piece will only be looking at the first film in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Please forgive me, I know how much everyone loves the sequels … The question at the center of this film is a person’s capacity for treachery and what happens when someone breaks free of formality. From the moment Elizabeth finds... Read more
We learn very early on in Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights that everyone has a dream. Everyone has a song. Even the neighborhood Abuela spends her days wondering whether the sacrifices she and her mother made had lasting impact. Even the dude who sells snow cones has a story to tell. This is probably true of every place and every community, but it takes a special kind of ear to key in on this and bring it all to... Read more
The effect that WWII had on the American psyche is one of the most discussed topics in all of film discussion, but if we could imagine one film as sort of the face of this issue, it would have to be Fred Zinneman’s 1949 noir-piece, Act of Violence. The film sees family man and all-around good guy, Frank, living with his wife, Edith, and young son in the suburbs. His California community celebrates Frank for surviving a POW camp while... Read more
There’s a lot to be grateful for here at the tail end of a long legacy of cinematic masterworks, but it does come with some downsides. Namely, most of said masterworks are often already spoiled to new viewers by virtue of basic participation in the pop culture conversation. People who come to Titanic in 2024 tend to already have “I’ll never let go, Jack!” preloaded. Modern viewers of Jurassic Park aren’t really allowed to be surprised when the dinosaurs break... Read more
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