The Gist:
Split into 11 segments detailing the end of the world through the eyes of two angels. Cadan (Junesoo Ham) is fighting on the side of The King while his lifelong friend, Larus (Denis Hill) is fighting for The General. Raina (Lindsay Frame) is the administration’s Record Keeper who keeps a neutral side between the two while trying to make sense of it all.
The Review:
Personal beliefs aside, I always do enjoy a good biblical movie when done right. However, I’m still not sure what the case with The Record Keeper is. Originally funded by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and scheduled to be released as an online mini-series, apparently they didn’t like the end result and discontinued the project. Now though the project has been resurrected (sorry had to) as a full length feature which is doing the rounds through the festival circuit.
So we have the angel Raina (Lindsay Frame) our sort of guide through this apocalyptic event. She bides her time interviewing angels and demons alike in her steam-punk inspired office. Enter our heroes, best of friends Cadan, the peace loving one and Larus, the fallen angel who fights against God. After a lengthy intro of our titular trio of angels reminiscing and then arguing over plots and mcguffins the war begins. The world is collapsing, the general has declared war, there are massacres, orgies, blood sacrifices etc. Tears and blood are shed, monologues are a plenty.
Is all this too scary or disturbing to watch you think? Never fear because absolutely nothing of what I have just written down is shown, nothing, nada, zilch. Instead we have the two angels explain the events in detail to Raina while she records using her steam-punk Victorian era tape recorder. Did I mention steam-punk? Yea there are a lot of old steam-punk gadgets being used and tossed about. Sad that most of said stuff is all in one location, Raina’s office.
Speaking of her office, 90 percent of the film takes place there which slows down the film’s pace to the point of tears. Out of the eleven segments, there must be only three or four which take place outside the office, one featuring Lucifer and the other featuring God. The latter scene is what supposedly pissed off the Christians deeming the film, “controversial.”
There were times where I got the impression that the character of Larus was heavily inspired by Bartleby from Kevin Smith’s Dogma. He brings up the same questions about freedom of choice and who has it better, the angels or us. Unlike Dogma though this fails to entertain in the slightest. Having said that, I want to go watch Dogma again.
The Verdict:
I’m pretty sure as a short TV series this would have worked just fine. As a movie, which clocks in at just over two hours mind you, it really is a bore. Not likely to make any waves on this side of the pond that’s for sure. This is the rare case where I will say that this film is in dire need of a big budget action reboot.
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