2 stars (out of 5)
Directed by: Patrick Gillies
Cast: Angus Benfield, Victoria Abbott, Jeremy Brennan, Mark Hadlow, Mike Maxwell, Martin Howells, Ron Rodger, Simon Barnett, Jason Gunn.
Rating: (G)
There is something satisfying and heart-warming about a Kiwi-battler film, especially when it is well done.
Indie filmmakers easily achieve visual excellence with wonderfully quirky stories crafted on the smell of an oily rag. Finding a good story and bringing it to life with strong performances is less easy.
Australian actor-writer Angus Benfield had been toying with the concept of The Holy Roller for a decade after working as pastor at a Sydney church. Resettling in Christchurch (the setting for the film), Benfield paired up with director Patrick Gillies and set out to make a mainstream feel-good film about a struggling preacher who becomes a televangelist superstar.
The Holy Roller has the potential to send up modern mega-churches, but fails miserably. Angus Benfield is Pastor Luke, a do-gooder who travels to the city to find a flock. He fashions a following in Christchurch's seedy backstreets, and in the process upsets some not-very-scary villains.
Benfield might be full of good intentions, wanting to create uplifting cinema free from profanity. But his performance is akin to a plank of 4 x 2. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast fare no better. With cringeworthy cliches, irritating music, laboured set-ups and theological grandstanding; The Holy Roller is a mediocre 48-hour-film concept, supersized.
It was the last film shot in Christchurch before the quakes and credit must be given to the team for getting the project finished. But the best thing for The Holy Roller would be to bury it under a pile of rubble.
Best thing: Seeing the Christchurch skyline intact.
Worst thing: Acting, storytelling, editing, music and an irritating use of product placement.
See it with: A pillow and a duvet.
- Mark Orton
