The Priests

Such a simple film, and yet THE PRIESTS really impressed me with its excellent acting, writing and direction. Relative newcomer to the film industry, James Napoli, wrote and directed this surprising little film. Garrett Brown was the star of the film and did an amazing job playing a dying criminal. Unlike Napoli, Brown has quite a few screen credits--though most of them have been relatively small. With his ability to pull off the difficult scenes in this film, I hope he gets a chance to try even more challenging roles.

The film begins with Brown struggling to find a priest as he's profusely bleeding. Because he's lost so much blood and isn't exactly rational, he mistakenly goes to the wrong apartment. He thinks it's the home of a priest and he wants to make a last confession, however, it's just some guy and his wife! However, since the man has a gun and seems ready to kill them if they don't receive the confession, they have no choice. These moments are very, very poignant (even if there was a cute joke just before this) and the film is one of the more emotionally daring and draining films I have seen in some time. Despite the absurdity of the situation, everything rang true--making it a tough to watch but highly satisfying film.