I saw it last night, and it was excellent.
High production values, and very faithful to Lewis’ writings and thoughts. Others we talked to thought the same. If you like C.S. Lewis, you will NOT be disappointed. See it.
Just checked redding ca.
The 2 day run was sold out days before the showing.
Another week added
11/ 12th to 18th.
They recommended buying ticket ahead of time.
Wow.
Thank you
This is a ‘must see’ ......CS Lewis fan
Followup: We went to see The Most Reluctant Convert yesterday afternnon and enjoyed it a great deal. I thought initially that we would be getting a private screening, but people started drifting in during the previews. We ended with about 20 people — no teenagers, no cellphones — in an afternoon showing. Probably not bad for a C.S. Lewis film in the COVID era, when adult audiences have been slow to return to theaters.
A perfect movie? No. But it’s a very good movie that I would recommend to anyone interested in C.S. Lewis.
Interesting production note & an oopsie requiring explanation: The movie that I saw opened with a rather long prologue consisting of a “behind the scenes” tour of the making of the film. Many of the actors and filmmakers are introduced. (A faith based group was involved; it’s interesting to get to know some of them a bit.) It was an odd way to begin. I accepted it as a framing device, but then it seemed to go on too long.
It turns out that this was apparently a production mistake. The “prologue” was intended as a bonus feature to be shown AFTER the film. It somehow got transposed when the film was copied for release. I do not know if this mistake occurred with the original one-day, “event movie” limited release on November 3; I’m speculating here, but it may have occurred only when the one-day run did well and additional copies were made quickly for an expanded run. There wasn’t time to correct it before the extended run began. Anyhow, what I thought was an oddly long prologue was actually a misplaced bonus feature. That’s a new wrinkle for me. Nothing that I can’t roll with. It works ok in the film and that fact makes it interesting from a technical point of view. Think of it as a fluke U.S. Mint mistake on a coin — worth millions on the collectors’ market.
The style of the movie may not be to everyone’s taste. This is an adaptation of a one man stage play. It necessarily centers on an actor of mature years, who did the play, recalling the events of his youth. It is what it is. I am ok with that kind of movie.
I thought the theological discussions could have been expanded. That said, the film is obviously made for viewers who already know something about C.S. Lewis, and the issues presented will ring a bell.
Call to Action: we do a lot of complaining about contemporary movies. If we want the film industry to make more of “our kind of movies,” we need to support the good ones when they appear. Put this on your list to stream when it hits tv, and unless you are violently averse to sitting in a theater, this is one to go see in person. This will not be in the theaters for long. If you want to see it, go this week.
One theological question: there is one excellent scene in which Lewis, having become an intellectual convert to theism but not yet Christianity, begins to consider which religion, if any, might have merit. (Or all they all the same, just different paths?) He quickly concludes that of all the religions on offer, only Hinduism and Christianity stood serious scrutiny. Here I paraphrase, but, “Islam is just a Christian heresy. Everything that is good (or true?) about Plato and Judaism is in Christianity. And Buddhism is just a heresy of Hinduism.”
The first two points I follow easily enough (leaving aside whether I fully agree). But Buddhism as a Hindu heresy is a new-to-me idea. Thoughts?
Interesting movie. Worth seeing.
To the newbies: welcome to the movie ping list. Freepmail me if you want off.
Some people are on the list by request, but mostly I glean the names of people who weigh in on the frequent movie threads. I do not assume any special interest or expertise about movies, but I figure that if you are interested enough to torture a keyboard regarding a movie thread, you might be interested enough for a ping list.
All topics are open for discussion, but my hope is that we can nudge the conversation towards good, conservative-friendly films that we can recommend to others. Goodness knows, we do plenty of complaining about Hollywood nonsense (and worse). We need to notice the good stuff as well.