Jesus Henry Christ (2012)

Dennis Lee's "Jesus Henry Christ" is everything that a good movie should be. The main character is an outcast boy genius who sets about trying to find his biological father. The main candidate has a daughter who's equally outcast. As happens in many indies, we learn the characters' back stories to ensure that there's a reason to care about them. In addition to the main story, there's also the theme of letting go of the past and righting the wrongs. All done very well, I might add.Jason Spevack (Amy Adams's son in "Sunshine Cleaning") is a good mixture of funny and serious in the role of the precocious Henry, and I really liked Toni Collette as his mom. Michael Sheen (Tony Blair in "The Queen" and David Frost in "Frost/Nixon") makes a great possible biological father. I hope to see Samantha Weinstein in more movies in the future. It's just a really good movie, and I recommend it.

I liked this film from the moment we witness a potted history of Patricia's childhood. Patricia is Henry's mum and Henry is a kind of genius. He is certainly different but who wouldn't be with a mum like Patricia? The relationship between mum and son is a delightful watch as is Henry's growing urge to find his father. And there is Uncle Stan another character of infinite eccentricity for us to enjoy.The beauty of this film is that it doesn't take itself seriously and neither do the characters and yet they are all tangible enough for us to like. It echoes life it really does. When Henry discovers his real background and the identity of the sperm donor then enter Audrey, his half sister, and another lovable quirky character with an equal flair for genius.This is a film made for the many eccentricities you can wring out of such a wacky group of characters not by making cheap fun but by genuinely exploring where these people might go with their lives. It is fun, it is funny, and its ninety odd minutes seem to fly by and so it has to be doing something right.

I excepted a lot from this small indie flick and thank you! for fulfilling those expectations. The plot absolutely intriguing summarizes life of four socially indifferent individuals, the ten year old unreal genius, curious and longing for his biological father. His mother, a femininely empowered social activist with history of freak family tragedies coincidently at age of ten resulting in deaths and loss of her mother and four brothers leaving her curiously with the job of bringing up her father.The pressure of social acceptance lead the boy to the scholar cum author of controversial book on research of his own daughters' sexuality named "Born Gay Or Made That Way".And his daughter riding the wreck of her childhood due to the unintended mistakes of her father. Their lives collide in course of verification of their paternal origin and with each of them succumbing to their present contempt.The scarce but amazing cast comprises of brilliantly played mother Toni Collette. The very mature ten year old Jason Spevack. The very uncertain and nervous Michael Sheen and apathetic daughter Samantha Weinstein.Cinematography although not unique was versatile and added pace and character to the plot.The frames of flying post-its and jovial dance of Michel Seen in rumbling rain were artistically note worthy.The direction(Dennis Lee) absolutely applaud-able with his only second major film ensured the humor in tragedy and tears in laughter.Bravely connecting scenarios with absurd coincidences surprisingly to extravagant results. All in all an indie at its best and humorous none the less.

The second film of Singapore Night, Jesus Christ Henry got into the lineup because of Singaporean Sukee Chew's involvement being one of three producers of the film, an indie production that made its World Premiere in the Tribeca Film Festival a few weeks ago, which drew quite a mixed response with comments that it had tried to hard. Written and directed by Korean American Dennis Lee based upon his short film back in 2003, I thought this movie garnered reactions that it didn't quite deserve for trying too hard, being crafted in the same hyperactive mold such as quirky comedies that have been seen around the region such as Citizen Dog and true blue Singaporean film 18 Grams of Love even.There are a number of focus shifts in the film that tangent off its intended protagonist Henry James Herman (Jason Spevack), a petri-dish baby conceived through in-vitro fertilization technique opted by his feminist mom Patricia Herman (Toni Collette), turning out to be the unintentional genius with a videographic memory, retaining every single little detail that he's experienced since conception. Jason Spevack would probably be yet another child actor to look out for since Freddie Highmore grew up, and this film will serve as his showreel if not for being upstaged by the other cast members given the narrative shifts that put the spotlight on them.Specifically I thought the film devoted a lot more time (not that I'm complaining) to the Patricia character, beginning with a rather lengthy introduction to the Herman family and the demise of each and every individual character beginning with Patricia's mother right down to her brothers, each in a rather comical manner that you'll likely be surprised at its rather nonchalant manner in which to bump them off, with black comedy by the bucket loads of course. And this set the course of the film to be rather gag filled in almost every scene put on screen, that for some it may be tiring and trying since it could have felt like a water torture treatment being force fed with in-your-face comedic moments. I appreciated what it had tried to do, but opinions on humour especially, and how to deliver it, will obviously be polarized.Yes like a typical comedic indie film, this one is filled with its fair share of quirky characters. Outside of the mother-son Hermans, and Patricia's father Stan (Frank Moore) who forms a very strong bond with his grandson Henry, the story also goes out to another dysfunctional father-daughter pair when Henry embarks on a mission to discover his biological father. This brings Michael Sheen into the fray as Dr Slavkin O'Hara, a professor whose book "Born Gay or Made That Way?" becomes a living hell for his daughter Audrey (Samantha Weinstein) when she is the subject of his book, and becomes the constant taunt of her schoolmates.Story-wise, the coming together of these two families in a sort of identity-crisis form the bulk of the situational comedy they find themselves in, but the pairing of both Weinstein and Spaveck together moved the story forward with both putting in strong performances and holding their own against two very powerful thespians in Sheen and Collette, although Weinstein probably upstaged Spaveck a little with her portrayal as the extremely cynical and sarcastic little girl quite unfazed by her tormentors. Again there are plenty of laugh out loud wicked moments that you will probably wonder if you're laughing at the film, or with it especially in its darker moments that could be quite unsettling.Production values are quite spiffy given the big name executive producer behind this film, though Dennis Lee and Sukee Chew were quite tight lipped on how much this film actually cost since it looked like a multi-million dollar movie. If you're still game for quirkiness in all characters of your indie films, then Jesus Henry Christ will still be your cup of tea if you see beyond, or tolerate some eyebrow raising moments with its less than friendly jibes against lesbians/feminists as well as a white man who thinks he's black, otherwise those jaded will find fault with almost every frame of the film in trying too hard with wild absurdity in characters. Split down the middle, depending on your mood and attitude.