A mysterious man randomly appears on a couple’s property. Their interactions with him reveal things about them and their beliefs.
Written and directed by Mark O’Brien, The Righteous has some heavy themes and a lot of talk to explore them. This film is one that takes its time and is more content over actions, which overall will work great for some and be absolutely mind-numbing for others. As a constant film watcher, some of the scenes are great and some of them just feel like filler. The film has interesting themes, pushing on the religious angle a lot and this disconnects it with those who are not God-following. The film as is has a lot of religious elements, but the story works even for atheists/agnostic viewers. That being said, the story does feel a bit like it’s stretched too long for its own good. The writing is decent, the directing is decent, but some parts of it feel like an exercise in religion and other parts feel like an exercise in style.
While the black and white here looks great, stark in some scenes, softer in other scenes, it’s something that doesn’t really bring anything to the story itself. It’s not something that has any sort of effect on it. However, it does look good, rich even with cinematography by Scott McClellan. The work here looks really great and reminiscent of old school films and photographs. Some of the images are downright haunting.
Acting within those images are a total of 6 people according to the credits available, with 3 really taking up the bulk of the runtime. The leads are played by Henry Czerny, Mark O’Brien, and Mimi Kuzyk. Each of them delivers strong performances with Czerny and Kuzyk being the two standouts with fantastic performances. Czerny in particular grounds the film and leads it in the right direction. He has an emotional arc that works and shows just right in his acting. His work is the strongest here and that is pretty much as expected from him as an actor viewers can count on. He really brings the film to life, gives it a central character worth following, and helps the detach the viewer from the religious content even though it’s mostly about him. The way he shows his character’s disconnect with religion, his guilt, his grief, and his slow acceptance of the situation is what makes the film worth watching.
The Righteous is a religious film with Christianity/Catholicism at its center, so it will definitely not connect with everyone. The elements of grief, guilt, and acceptance will be easier to connect to for most viewers and Henry Czerny’s performance is the reason to watch this one. An issue with this film here is the marketing, connecting it too closely to Ready or Not makes it sound like it’s going to be a fast-pace, action-packed, possibly violent film when it is everything but. Oftentimes, this kind of marketing can backfire and here it will lead the wrong audiences to this film.