The Book of Clarence Promises Satire and Spirituality, but Only Really Achieves One

Blessed be the innovators…even when they don’t quite hit the mark. Having wowed audiences and critics with his directorial debut, The Harder They Fall, writer/director Jeymes Samuel returns with an altogether different tale in The Book of Clarence. Starring LaKeith Stanfield in the eponymous role, he plays the chronically underachieving brother of Jesus Christ’s apostle Thomas (also played by Stanfield). Existing in the shadow of pious Thomas, atheist Clarence is a good-hearted man who just can’t seem to get it together in A.D. 33 Jerusalem. Desperate to ice his “nobody” reputation and win the respect of the woman he fancies, Clarence decides to crib the playbook of aspiring messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (Nicholas Pinnock), to fast track his own path to success. 

Based on that cheeky premise, The Book of Clarence is seemingly positioning itself as the literal and figurative spiritual successor to that other Jesus-centric satire, Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. An exciting prospect because, as evidenced with The Harder They Fall, Samuel’s revisionist storytelling skills are mighty. Unfortunately, the director doesn’t aspire to those heights with The Book of Clarence. While he’s brought to life a handsome film, absolutely stacked with an outstanding cast including Omar Sy, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard, Babs Olusanmokun and others, The Book of Clarence suffers from trying to be too many things for too many audiences. Samuel’s script is a soft religious satire, a sword-and-sandals homage, a clever reframing of Christianity from the Black perspective, and a sincere attempt at evangelism for the dispossessed. Broken into a structure of three Books, the disparate ideas mashed together result in a disjointed watch, full of memorable sequences that don’t stitch together to make a cohesive whole. 

Samuel’s core concept, positioning an atheist as an observer and researcher of Jesus’ life as it’s happening, is a brilliant idea that promises a fresh perspective with bite regarding the eternal inconsistencies of the Christian church. Instead, Samuel’s script only uses Clarence to softly poke at the underbelly of those who will go on to form Christ’s church after his death and resurrection. As the well-liked “loser” of Jerusalem, Clarence is both a keen and clear-eyed observer of the confounding shift towards blind faith happening around him, and a lost soul who has hampered his own potential with crippling self-doubt. Early on, he’s a vocal and pervasive voice regarding the hypocrisies of Christ’s most ardent believers, who have dropped their families and responsibilities to follow some guy who says he’s the son of God. 

Seemingly immune to the call of Jesus’ movement, Clarence’s street savvy also lends to his destructive impulsiveness. He’s “that guy” in the neighborhood who bets the money he borrowed from local heavy, Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), on a thrilling chariot race against Mary Magdalene (Teyana Taylor) and loses, ensuring his imminent death as the payback for his debts. With the help of his loyal best friend, Elijah (RJ Cyler), they try to concoct some schemes to wriggle out of that death sentence, from selling more weed to getting Clarence baptized so Jedediah will go easy on him as a reformed man of faith. Of course, everyone sees through Clarence’s bull, including John the Baptist (Oyelowo), who smacks him around for his blasphemy. 

It’s in these pursuits during Book I and Book II that The Book of Clarence is at its lightest and most comedic, adopting an almost laconic pacing as Clarence tokes and jokes with his friends until he comes up with the ridiculous plan to first become the 13th apostle, and then a parallel messiah. Aided by a lush score and an eclectic soundtrack brimming with knee-tapping original R&B and soul songs written (and mostly sung) by Samuel, Clarence amiably stumbles through a series of Biblically familiar sequences that test his fortitude and wit, and gain him allies the likes of freed gladiator Barabbas (Sy), local miscreant Zeke (Caleb McLaughlin) and even a befuddled Mary of Nazareth (Woodard).

When Clarence decides to deconstruct Christ’s blueprint for “success” for his own purposes of gaining followers and notoriety right under Jesus’ nose, Samuel creates a ripe canvas that’s just begging for the film to go all-in with some pointed, smart satire about religion and fame. Yet the film retreats from that path—despite flirting with it from the start—and doubles down on the authenticity of Christ and his miracles. And Samuel then pivots to focus on reframing the origins of the church back to its Black roots. 

In portraying Jesus and his apostles as historically accurate Black, and establishing the Roman occupation as one based in disrespect and savagery towards the natives of Jerusalem, Samuel achieves a different kind of impact in scenes where Clarence and his circle are brutalized by their white oppressors who want to take their agency away. It serves to give Clarence a more altruistic purpose in his pursuits, as his conscience and compassion war with the success of his ruse as the back bench messiah. But it’s also accomplished in oddly incongruous ways, literally segueing from a funky dance sequence in a local club to a violent confrontation between the locals and the Roman soldiers. 

Samuel also has a lady problem. His cast of incredible female actors aren’t given much to do. Varinia, Clarence’s love interest played by the luminous Anna Diop (Nanny), is reduced to the object of his affections who doesn’t have a story outside of quizzically looking at Clarence with both pity and interest. While she and Stanfield have great chemistry, the couple is vastly underserved in the story. The same goes for Mary Magdalene, who is introduced in a breathtaking action sequence and then disappears from the narrative until the third act, where she’s reduced to a familiar Biblical plot point. Only Marianne Jean-Baptiste carves out the best space for herself as Clarence’s forgiving mother. But the caliber of talented women in the cast deserved more developed roles. 

And then The Book of Clarence makes a major turn in Book III, going from frothy and rambling to exceptionally earnest. Any of Clarence’s prior cynicism about God and faith is wiped out as his path snaps in alignment with Christ’s last days on earth. Arrested by the Romans and remanded to Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) for being a subversive messiah, Clarence’s circumstances become deadly serious as he’s threatened with crucifixion unless he gives up Jesus Christ’s whereabouts. 

If you’re already religious going into this film, there will surely be satisfaction in witnessing Clarence sacrifice himself just because it’s the right thing to do. Though he stalwartly remains a non-believer in Christ, he still walks the messiah’s exact path and there’s powerful imagery to absorb in Stanfield’s suddenly deadly serious performance. As a very lapsed Catholic, even I was moved by Samuel’s ability to tie the steps of the Stations of the Cross directly to the struggle of Black Christians then and today. 

However, for those not expecting a traditional conversion story, the last portion of Clarence’s story is jarring and even a little confusing. Any residual satire or impiousness left in the tank is transferred to a cameo character, who plays a Christ-lookalike in the vein of Buddy Christ in Kevin Smith’s Dogma. It’s meant to alleviate the disbelief from Clarence’s shoulders as he transforms into the proto-Christ-like figure before Christ goes through his own dark night of the soul. While it’s an effective persuasion for viewers who also feel aimless and seek purpose, the last 20 minutes of The Book of Clarence are a different movie altogether.

Stanfield gets MVP points for ably shifting his performance to capture the many facets of Clarence. But the character’s ultimate journey feels purposefully oriented to only those of faith in the audience, and forsakes those who embraced the Clarence who questioned and provoked with admirable passion. Samuel’s The Book Clarence is a grab bag of ideas and genres that sometimes hit their mark, but in general don’t land a believable arc for the title character. The script moves him where Samuel wants him to go, but it doesn’t happen in a particularly organic way. However, I will be buying this soundtrack ASAP.

Director: Jeymes Samuel
Writers: Jeymes Samuel
Starring: LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, Anna Diop, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, Eric Kofi Abrefa, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch
Release Date: January 12, 2024

Tara Bennett is a Los Angeles-based writer covering film, television and pop culture for publications such as SFX Magazine, Total Film, SYFY Wire and more. She’s also written books on Sons of Anarchy, Outlander, Fringe, The Story of Marvel Studios and The Art of Avatar: The Way of Water. You can follow her on Twitter @TaraDBennett or Instagram @TaraDBen