Recent comments by presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann have stirred up the discussion about gay marriage once again. While speaking to a group of high school…
01
Nov
2011
Jonathan Brink
The Author
Jonathan Brink
I am the Senior Editor at Provoketive. I am the author of the recently published, Discovering the God Imagination. I also serve as Senior Editor for Civitas Press, a boutique publishing firm specializing in inspiring and redemptive ideas. I am developing a new model for publishing and seek to create new opportunities for fresh and creative voices.
Occasionally, I speak on issues of justice, postmodern theology, and living a life in the way of Jesus. I leads workshops on The Practice of Love and Exploring a Postmodern Gospel at BeADisciple.com.
I am a son, a husband, and a father. I live in Folsom, Ca, with my beautiful wife and amazing three children.
I have a confession to make. I’ve never liked Christian movies. They are typically thin on development, very campy, and usually serve to present the Gospel message in some way. I went to film school, had a movie script produce [badly] and worked in Hollywood for four years under some of the best film houses in the business. The level of quality that I was able to train under was phenomenal. In film school we used to lament at how bad Christian movies were and dreamed of changing things. I left Hollywood to save my own soul [another story] but I sometimes think I left my heart there.
Whenever a “Christian” movie comes out my heart leaps with hope, only to cringe at the final product. Perhaps I’m a snob when it comes to movies, but I dare you to name one Christian movie that is anyone’s top 1,000 list. And Ben Hur is not a Christian movie. It’s an action movie about a man who discovers grace.
So when I heard Blue Like Jazz was coming out, I so wanted it to be good. Blue Like Jazz, written by Donald Miller, was one of the seminal books for me in my emerging spiritual development. It came at a time when I was searching for what it meant to be human. Miller’s story of working through his own humanity ended up becoming a best seller. The movie almost didn’t get made. It was saved from death by a unique crowd-sourcing campaign and finally put to film.
The trailer came out and it looks really good. Here’s “hoping” the movie is as good as the trailer. No announcement of release dates yet.
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I dislike Christian movies as well, for the exact reasons you mention. I feel like the cheese overwhelms any message they may be trying to get across.
This is the main reason I’ve never seen Fireproof or the new Courageous movie. I hear so many good things about them, but I’m scared that I will just be further disappointed.
I think Ben Hur should count as a Christian movie. It has Jesus in it!
This film looks fairly decent, though. I might have to give it a shot!
Kaitlin, I saw Fireproof and I have to give it kudos for trying. Most of the film is cheese but what surprised me WAS the confession scene. It was actually meaningful. The rest was predictable.
It’s a toss-up based on the trailer. It looks like Garden State with Jesus. Now, I like Garden State, but the trailer toes very close to the line of handling “The God Issue” deftly and just tacking God on to the basic indie film structure. Which is my major issue with Christian films, the formula becomes “X Genre + Jesus!” and like you noted it never works. I’m already skeptical of the scene where he’s on the stage with everyone cheering. That said, if they nail the confessional scene they’ve nailed the movie. That story encapsulate everything that works about the book. But after all that waffling, it is a trailer and only the marketing. I’ll see it, but more because I love Blue Like Jazz.
And are we counting The Ten Commandments as a Christian movie?
Garden State with Jesus is an apt description. I saw Steve Taylor’s last movie, The Second Chance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Chance It bordered on good but lost the plot in the second half. And the Ten Commandments is not a Christian movie. It an adventure movie about the Jewish Exodus. Jesus hasn’t shown up yet. ;-P
At risk of sounding like a parrot, I’m with Kaitlin and Drew. I, like you, found the book at just the right time. It solidified and articulated feelings I had. It came to me right when I needed it.
The cheese factor is also why I have avoided movies like “Fireproof” and “Courageous”. While I probably don’t give them enough credit for trying, and while I haven’t actually seen the movies… From the trailers I get the impression that they have a crises and then have a cute Jesus fix by the end of the two hours. That’s why I’ve always avoided movies like those. I’d rather spend my money on something like “Higher Ground” (with Vera Farmiga) that looks like it’s not going to try to sell me an easy fix. I don’t know.
I loved the book, but was actually sad when I heard it was being turned into a movie. Like “A Separate Peace”, I felt like the book was such an emotional, internal journey that I don’t know how well it will translate to the screen. I don’t know. It makes me feel funny. If I get a chance I might see it, or if someone like Drew drags me to it for a film project. But I’m still very skeptical.
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I would never drag you–or anyone–to a movie just so we could chat about it over microphones.
Really? No? You mean you wouldn’t drag me (albeit willingly) to something like An Education so we can talk about how flustered it made me and how awkward the banana scene was? Totally doesn’t sound like you, you’re right. My mistake!
I would say the thing I dislike most about Christian movies is the fact that, even though it is a terrible production, other Christians will rant and rave about how good the movie was. No matter the fact that the story told is mostly the same as the previous one. I always wonder why it seems like Christian movie makers simply can’t think of original ideas for their movies.
I must say though, I also have hi hopes for Blue Like Jazz.
Coenraad, I’m totally with you. That’s a huge recent why I avoid those movies too. If it’s family friendly and Christian, it’ll get rave reviews from a whole section of people in my life. It feels like all those movies are out to do is say “See? Christians struggle too! But then they find Jesus and it’s all better!” They seem to tell the same story without any true grit of real life. We’ll see how Blue Like Jazz handles that.
oh, cool. didn’t know it was becoming a movie. sure hope it’s not cheesy!