Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Marian20 Jeremy Sisto stars in an independent drama that provides insights on the Catholic faith particularly the Sacrament of Reconciliation which is better known as Confession. The story involves a Catholic priest,Fr. John Burlein, who hears a confession of a prostitute named Linda Salerno,who intends to kill herself on her birthday.After listening to her confess and failing to give the absolution,the priest seeks out to look for her in the Minneapolis sex underworld wherein he discovers more about the trade of prostitution.As he makes his journey,Fr John also discovers more about himself like his personal flaws in relation to his vocation as a priest,the virtue of forgiveness, and sins committed by everyone. Hollywood has made numerous films about sexual sins committed by Catholic priests like Primal Fear and Spotlight.It is a welcome change to see this great independent film overall as it provides a positive light to Catholicism particularly priests.Fr John was presented as someone who wanted to sincerely help others despite being far from an ideal priest especially after hearing the confession of Linda.Jeremy Sisto gave a sincere performance in it.Added to that,we also get to see a refreshing screenplay that is based on reality and far from being clichéd nor predictable.The characters aren't simple nor one-sided as we get to see real people involved in the story.It will have viewers continue talking after the end credits have appeared.Finally,this indie drama definitely puts Catholicism in a good light as it gives appreciation to its sacraments particularly confession,its clergy and its teachings.
sgcim Without being a cornball piece of fluff, this film left me feeling that maybe somewhere, even if it's only in a film, people do still try to help each other out without regard for money, or some type of favor. Without the non-stop assault on our senses, emotions, and intellect, this film tells a touching story that really resonates, due to the excellent performances by every actor in the film. Good writing, direction and a marvelous score by a composer who is not afraid to it that he is influenced by Bernard Herrmann, and doesn't have to use synthesizers and drum machines to cop out. We should be thankful to see a film that has no hip-hop and rap.
deschreiber The premise of the movie was interesting. Will he be able to reach her? Can he stop her? But a ton of the scenes stuck me as filler, with little dramatic import. The subplot of the priest's "temptation" turned out to be, simply, empty. His looking at the magazines had no discernible effect on him. The ex-girlfriend's approaches were easily diverted. He doesn't seem to have been "into temptation" after all. When the girlfriend apologized and talked as if she was not going to bother him any more, I wondered, "So what was all that about then?" Just a little subplot to fill the time. Was he really looking at the prostitute's cleavage or just at her necklace? The ending with the prostitute also seemed a bit of a cheat. The conversations between the priest and his black parishioner seemed very odd, where the parishioner was playing the role of counsellor to the priest.Two stars out of five.
hipster17 I watched Into Temptation on Netflix's recommendation despite the film's stale-sounding plot outline, primarily because Jeremy Sisto had the lead role. To my surprise, the story turned out to be enveloping and the direction well-paced. Jeremy Sisto was, as expected, excellent: it's not easy to play the role of one Catholic priest and still connect with an audience, what with people bringing well-formed notions about all priests to the table. Rather than shoulder the burden of controversy, Sisto performs Father John Buerlein as a simple, flawed but honest guy. Coyle works in slight transgressions from Buerlein's past and present to help us suspend our cynicism about the church. It works.Great as Sisto was, Kristin Chenoweth's role was probably the more difficult of the two. The story of her Linda Salerno needed to be told almost exclusively through flashbacks, one confession and a series of ambiguous moments - not many lines to understand, let alone connect with, a troubled and aging high-end prostitute who places absolution high on her checklist of things to do before committing suicide. Chenoweth plain nails it, presents her pain in subtle ways and never tries to be a saint (Sisto's parish, not coincidentally, is a shrine to Mary Magdalene).Overall, there are some small plot imperfections that acting and direction redeem. It's an excellent film, well-worth the time and money.
