Once Upon a Time in Judea is the setting for this watchable new comedy at the London film festival from film-maker and musician Jeymes Samuel, that talented and prolific multihyphenate who just two years ago opened the LFF with his feature debut The Harder They Fall.
The followup is a wacky counter-gospel action adventure about a little-known rival to Jesus, an alternative, dope-dealing Chosen One called Clarence; all taking place in the Holy Land at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. It’s a sort of stoner-spaghetti eastern, with some nice gags, sprightly cameos, monolithic Bible-movie credits, chariot races, gladiator contests, Roman soldiers in silly uniforms and holy men with long straggly hair.
Samuel pays explicit tribute to Monty Python’s Life of Brian with a bit of a dialogue riff on the first syllable in the word “messiah”, but The Book of Clarence has something Life of Brian didn’t have – a fear of giving offence. In the end, there is a weird solemnity and piety to the film, which appears somewhere along the way to lose the courage of its satirical and sceptical convictions.
