Entertaiment

Throwing Stones at Ourselves:
LDS Film and Its Critics
by Kieth Merrill

Lee Benson hated Charly.
Charly is a movie, based on the book by Jack Weyland.
Benson is a columnist for the Deseret News.

“Richard Dutcher opened the floodgates with God’s Army. Then came Brigham City and Mitch Davis’ The Other Side of Heaven . you knew it would eventually come to this. You knew they would get around to making the Mormon pop culture book Charly into a movie. It gets worse. They didn’t change the book.” [1]

Dutcher’s God’s Army

Lee Benson’s merciless Charly bash almost persuaded me to miss the movie. I’m glad I didn’t.

“Imagine turning the Mormon Handicraft Store and the Missionary Training Center into a full-length film – starring the staff at the genealogy library. Introducing a whole new genre: the feature-length Mormon clich. If Clean Flicks gets a hold of Charly, it will put stuff in.”

Granted, Benson is a glib and gifted writer, but in playing with his words Benson lost his perspective.

“Charly takes Mormon culture and bashes you over the head with it. It’s like seeing 98 minutes of Man’s Search For Happiness. It has all the subtlety of a missionary couple wearing tags and coming straight at you in a visitor’s center. “

“Deseret News movie critic Jeff Vice says some may find Charly ‘maudlin,’ which is like saying some may find The Sound of Music ‘musical'”.

I was amused by Benson’s hypersensitive “gag reflex” for effusively sentimental movies. His critique was terse and funny but his knee jerk reaction to Charly misses a couple of important points.

For starters, if you get to the heart of Mormon culture, we are sentimental.

We worry about dead ancestors, cry in church, and believe that families can be forever. Charly explores the last of these ideas in an insightful and worthwhile way.

I am the first to recognize how easy it is to rip these kinds of films to shreds. But as a filmmaker my ability to bash is tempered by my ability to remember.

Making a movie is much tougher than penning pithy words on paper. When it comes to film I am critically sympathetic. When it comes to Mormon Cinema my desire to be supportive overpowers both sympathy and critical perspective.

I am curious that it is often those nearest the geographic heart of the LDS culture that seem the most defensive about the tender underbelly of how we manifest our theology – and yes, Mr. Benson, how we exhibit our sentimentality and feelings of the heart.

Jeff Vice is right. Charly will strike some as being “maudlin” which means weakly and effusively sentimental. But I predict that the farther from the Wasatch Front the film may play, the more the members of the LDS Church – and even some outsiders – will find this movie a refreshing option.

Way out – where it will only venture on video — it will become a favored classic among some Latter-day Saints who never read Jack’s book, will never see Salt Lake City, never read the Deseret News and even if they could, would never understand what in the heck Lee Benson is talking about.

In a subsequent column Benson reported more than half a hundred angry letters scolding his sardonic lambaste. He promised to reconsider his critique. He did. For five seconds. “It is still cheesy,” he concluded.

Tastes vary. Expectations are high. You can’t compare a small movie made for a few hundred thousand dollars by a first time director with the experienced, expensive glitz of Hollywood, but of course we do it all the time.

Along the Wasatch front “cheesy” has taken on a meaning of its own that is vaguely connected to the curious state of cultural self-consciousness of a few main stream Mormons.

Besides the obvious meaning of the word “cheesy” — suggesting or resembling cheese — the application as slang means “shabby” or “cheap.” Charly is not perfect, but it is not shabby and the low budget does not leave the movie looking “cheap”.

The bigger point is this. That for better or for worse, for delight or disappointment, to whatever tastes or talents Charly may or may not appeal, it is significantly better than the vacuum existing before it was made.

I am the first to recognize that many — if not most — of the new offerings in “Mormon Cinema” are artistically compromised and technically misshapen. There are moments of greatness surrounded by “what the heck happened here?”

Access to digital technology has lured some would-be moviemakers into a false sense of security. There is – as their audience and critics like Benson are telling them – much more to a movie than a script you knock out with a couple of your friends and enough money — begged borrowed or stolen — to get it on the screen.

The excellent work of Jeff Simpson and his team at Excel Film Distribution are responsible for exploiting the market. “Exploit” is of course a term of art. Without the anomaly of a well-defined and accessible market among Mormons these movies could not be made at all.

Mormon sentimentality notwithstanding, historic market forces will ultimately shape the future of “Mormon Cinema”. Supply and demand are entrenched realities. In spite of initial curiosity — and some elated sense of “a movie for us at last” — mediocrity will quickly fade and quality will be required for survival.

Like some economic pundits of Wall Street who warn of recession with the market going up, I predict a fall out and settling of the Mormon movie market in the very near future. This notion – when it happens — supports the one brutal truth implied in the Benson assault – wannabe filmmakers must ultimately ” pull Mormon culture out of the cheese.”

I know what he means. I would have said it differently. Ultimately, wannabe Mormon film makers must rise above the novelty of “Mormon movies made for Mormons” and dependence on the easy and inevitable laughs of a Singles Ward to achieve a level of movie-making excellence that allows them the right and the power to tell their stories any way they want to – cheesy sentiment or no.

Mormon Cinema is a newborn giraffe, still wet behind the ears. It teeters on spindly legs of inexperience, but has the potential of becoming a magnificent creature.

Shortly after the release of God’s Army, Richard Dutcher mused to me one day that he was surprised a cluster of LDS movies had not followed in the wake of his success. He need wonder no more. There are more new “Mormon genre” movies in release or being made than the market can likely support. Some will be great. Some will be OK. Too many will be disappointing. A few are likely to be awful.

From a really wonderful web site, ldsfilm.com — kept up to date as a passionate hobby by talented LDS composer, Thomas C. Baggaley — comes an almost shocking list of “Mormon movies” announced, in production, promised or being created in the most fanciful of day-dreams kept afloat by nothing but faith. Here is what Mormon movie goers can look for in near future – presuming of course they get funded, finished and finely made.

. The R.M.: Hale/Hunter comedy; written by John E. Moyer and Kurt Hale; starring Kirby Heyborne and Will Swenson; January 24, 2003 release
. Day of Defense: missionary-oriented feature film based on novel by Latter-day Saint writer A. Melvin McDonald (pub. Deseret Book); written/produced by Andrew Lenz, Gary Jackson and James Westwood; directed by Adam Lawson; songs by Justin Utley and Shades of Gray; $500,000 budget; Jan. 2003 premiere at Kingsbury Hall in SLC
. The Work and the Story: “Mockumentary” by Nathan Smith Jones: fictitious ‘behind-the-scenes/full story’ of the birth of Mormon Cinema; starring Richard Dutcher, Jen Hoskins, Eric Smith; “The founder of LDS Cinema is missing and presumed DEAD… And the race to take his place HAS BEGUN.” filming complete; February 2003 release
. Suddenly Unexpected: Mark Potter’s missionary comedy; Oct. 2002 shot in Houston; starring Michael Judd and Clara Susan Morey; D.P.: Tucker T. Dansie; in post-production; spring 2003 release
. The Book of Mormon Movie: written, produced and directed by Gary Rogers; co-producers Lance Williams, David Hales, Tip Boxell; composer: Robert C. Bowden; planned release for Vol. 1 (covering 1st Nephi through part of 2nd Nephi): Spring 2003
. Troy Through A Window: feature-length GLBT/LDS-themed documentary by Brad Barber
. A Pioneer Miracle: short film from director/cinematographer T.C. Christensen; starring Caitlin E.J. Meyer; 2003 release
. The Good Samaritan: 30-min. film set in modern times; produced by Cary Derbidge; starring Shawn Stevens and Al Lampkin
. The Family Factor: A Global Family Portrait: Documentary: interviews w/families, political leaders, social scientists from around world. Filmed by Stephanie Ririe and Kendall Wilcox; Exec. Producers: Richard G. Wilkins (playwright, director of BYU’s World Family Policy Center) and Alan Osmond
. Thumbsucker: in development stage; Mike Mills has written a screenplay adaptation of Walter Kirn’s novel about a boy who sort of overcomes an oral fixation, becomes a Latter-day Saint and goes on a mission; starring Elijah Wood; filming began July 2002
. American Grace: coming-of-age story set in 1973 Modesto, California; directed by LDS novelist Curtis Taylor, with partner Stan Zenk; Richard Dutcher and Randy Bachman in supporting roles; principle photography wraps August 2002
. The Best Two Years of My Life: based on Scott S. Anderson’s stage play, which was based on the true-life story of 4 missionaries in Holland; directed by Anderson; produced by actor Michael Flynn; Fall 2003 release
. Baptists at Our Barbecue: movie adaptation of Robert Smith’s LDS novel; filming in Spring 2003
. A Voice from the Dust: Journey to the Promised Land: feature film about Lehi’s journey planned by producers Steven DeVore, Scott Swofford, and Quinn Coleman, director Peter Johnson, and cinematographer Reed Smoot; late-2003 release planned
. The Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith: Dutcher’s $10 mil. historical epic; scheduled for 2003 release
. Anxiously Engaged: events surrounding a temple wedding are the subject of “Out of Step” producer Cary Derbidge’s next film; written by Matthew Ball and Mark Greenhalgh; exec. producers Shane Kester and Steve Ames; April 2003 theatrical release

Richard Dutcher. What have you started ?

The list does not include several excellent productions from the Audio Visual Department of the church and the LDS Movie Studios in Provo, Utah.

The list does not name the few bright and talented young LDS film makers recently graduated from prestigious film schools who are rising in the mainstream world of Hollywood.

It becomes very clear that LDS filmmakers – anxious to tell “our story” are learning their craft. They are plunging in where angels fear to tread. They will be seasoned by the reaction of the audience and moved forward even by the honest — if awful — criticisms of Lee Benson. They will be sobered by the ultimate brutality of the market place as the gargoyles of supply and demand awaken from their lair and stalk the Wasatch Front.

Most of these films will “leave Utah” – or try — but never play beyond the membership of the LDS church. One or two will hopefully cross over into mainstream. When they do I hope the integrity of the sentimentality of the culture is not wholly expunged.

Granted, such delicate matters must be masterfully handled, but if main stream movies, dealing with Mormonism, are to have the impact that these faithful LDS film makers have in mind — filled as they are with faith and youthful idealism — they must be made with the kind of pointed honesty – even sentimentality — that is possible and important.

Movies cost money. To make movies that will break out of the Mormon market in any significant way will take a LOT of money. In a free society, money ultimately is a great equalizer. For now the reported profits from God’s Army, a sense of cultural identity and the irrational sense of “cause” may sustain the burgeoning flush of films that find fans on the Wasatch Front.

Sophisticated investors have quoted the results of God’s Army as the reason to invest. Million plus profits on a film that cost $300,000 have fueled the boom and helped imitators find the cash. Some investors have confided to me that they have invested without expectation of profit because they “believe in the cause.” They only do it once.

I am tempted to write an article entitled “How to Invest in Mormon Movies” to augment the inevitable sifting out of bad projects that must inevitably take place. High-net-worth Mormons with discretionary capital are beginning to feel besieged.

There is a huge chasm between where the fascinating new world of Mormon Cinema now stands and where everyone involved would like it to go. Filmmakers desperately want to “break out” and “break through”. Even Dutcher’s films — among the best of the “less than a million” movies — have had a difficult time attracting paying patrons beyond the membership of the LDS church.

In his prophetic vision of a Mormon movie masterpiece playing in movie centers around the globe, President Kimball added this qualification; “our motion picture specialists must be purified by the best critics.”

He is right of course. I therefore and hereby grant to Mr. Lee Benson his right and important role as an “official Kimball critic in the evolution of Mormon Cinema”.

In the end we cannot compromise. LDS filmmakers who wish to tell the story of Mormonism must become excellent by every standard. They must compete head to head with the finest films being made. They must get SO good that Lee Benson will stand up and cheer.

The wave of films in development, production and day dreams is the essential first step to ultimate achievement. If for no other reason this is sufficient ground to champion a movie like Charly.

After bashing Charly, Benson lamented:

” What’s next? Johnny Lingo in its expanded, big-screen version? Will they move The Testaments to the 16-plex? Will Mr. Krueger’s Christmas be coming soon to a theater near you?”

Hold on to your laptop Lee. Johnny Lingo is on its way to the silver screen. It was re-tooled as a feature film and shot this summer in the South Pacific by producers John Garbet and Jerry Molen with Other Side of Heaven editor, Steve Ramirez at the helm.. The same people who loved Charly can’t wait.

The Testaments – which I wrote and directed for the First Presidency – is playing in the IMAX Theater at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. Not exactly a theater “near you”, but a theater open to the public and not directly related to the church.

Mr. Kruger’s Christmas, which I also directed, has played on commercial television for many years.

If these films are among those that fail your “cheese test’, you must at least be willing to measure your critique against the millions who have been moved by “maudlin Mormon moments”.

Not all critics agreed with Lee Benson. For one, Ron C. Eggertsen, Journal Publications, said of it, “A Must See Film.A well-done modern romance..Heather Beers is not only exceptional, she’s a find.”

If you miss Charly you will miss some lovely moments. I tell you that even though in being true to the book the story is not perfectly structured as a film and the music unduly accentuates the abundant sentimentality.

Despite its flaws, Charly has some moments of beauty and brilliance. It is well worth the time and money. It might touch your heart and remind you why you loved the book that launched a whole new genre of teenage Mormon fiction.

Without the curious anomaly of a market for Mormons, genre movies like Charly would likely never reach the big screen. But against those odds, Charly has reached commercial theaters — at least in the “Mormon market” — and is being well received. The movie deserves the support of anyone who believes in the future and the vision of President Spencer W. Kimball as I do.

. “Mormon cheese” will not infect a non-LDS public. Done well it will touch hearts and change lives. Meanwhile what young, passionate filmmakers learn from the process is sifting wheat from chaff and honing talent.

The best and the brightest will continue. Looking back some of them will wonder how they manage to survive on the strength of the movies they are making now.

I am enthusiastic about what is happening. The number of LDS filmmakers leaping into the forbidden arena excites me. Not all their offerings are equal by any means. It is unfortunate for example that Other Side of Heaven and Singles Ward are so easily lumped into the same conversation, or that the recently announced Book of Mormon Movie , Volume I – exciting as it may be — is front and center in the media while another much bigger and more expensive epic on the Book of Mormon is being prepared by seasoned filmmakers, Steve Devore, Peter Johnson, Scott Swofford and Reed Smoot.

I am a great believer in the notion that as members of the LDS church we not only share a common theology but a shared set of goals and objectives in most areas of popular culture.

We have different tastes but common goals. Each of us must find a way to be supportive of the efforts being made without the responsibility to endorse the products that result. We must be champions of intent without the obligation to like the results.

We must find a way to be critical with an eye toward excellence and constructive with a hand toward helping.

My final point is one I’ve made before. If you fail to support the movies by LDS film makers who struggle to make a difference and who want to create family friendly films that run counter to popular culture – however imperfect and flawed their early attempts – then you forever forfeit your right to complain about Hollywood and the steady decline of popular culture.

Notes

1 Charly will make you cry,” Deseret News, October 2, 2002.

2002Meridian Magazine.  All Rights Reserved.