Sinner (2006/Matson DVD)

 

Picture: C-     Sound: C     Extras: D     Feature: C-

 

 

As scandals of child molestation worldwide hit The Catholic Church, instead of doing something about that problem, Right Wing reactionaries within the religion try to find a scapegoat to distract from the problem and attacking media becomes the obvious target.  One theory in the last thirty years (coinciding with the revealing of such scandals) is that Hollywood has become somehow anti-Catholic, as if it needed to be pro-Catholic or any other religion.  Along with religion radicalized as of the late 1970s, it is amazing the paranoia the theory carries.  Marc Benardout’s Sinner (2006) is based on his play about two priests being sexually targeted by a spider woman type.

 

She likes going after these types because of the celibacy, but the writing, dialogue and overall situation are so badly written and barely acted that the sex is sexless, the story implausible and overall (and long) 88 minutes never really add up to anything.  However, it is an idea and situation worth trying out, even if it fails here and deserves to exist.  Anyone who would consider this anti-Catholic is out of their mind, but anyone who considers this good is also stretching it a good bit.  Nick Chinlund is the main priest, Georgian Cates the supposed seductress (far from a Basic Instinct here) and Brad Dourif turns up in an odd supporting role that does more to distract than focus this mess.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 is amazingly weak, with bad shots almost all the way, bad detail, very bad Video Black, poor depth and few shots that are better, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo and so weak, we warn you of playback levels.  There are no extras, but that is no surprise.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo