The Penitent Man: Lance Henriksen Has a Message From the Future!

Mirror Images/Fylmar Prods.

Would you listen to Lance Henriksen?

Details

Opens at Varsity, Fri., April 1. Not rated. 88 minutes.

Related Content

• The Weekly Wire: This Week's Recommended Events
  May 9, 2012
• Black Swan
  May 2, 2012
• Black Swan: Natalie Portman Is Crazy for Swan Lake
  December 8, 2010
• More SIFF Locals: Bass Ackwards and The Penitent Man
  May 19, 2010
• Craig Robinson: "My Karaoke Go-To Number, Saturday at Midnight, Crowd Is Hot, and Drunk, and Hungry..."
  January 5, 2012

More About

• Nicholas Gyeney
• The Twilight Zone (TV Show)
• Lance Henriksen
• Darren Aronofsky
• Hot Tub Time Machine

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Shot here by Seattle native Nicholas Gyeney, The Penitent Man plays like an old episode of The Twilight Zone. You'll soon guess its big reveal, as a stranger (Lance Henriksen, our favorite cyborg in Aliens) comes to visit a therapist (local stage actor Lathrop Walker), with far too much knowledge about the latter's life, job, and marriage. As talk turns to wormholes and the butterfly effect, The Penitent Man mires itself into groan-tastic dialogue ("Like Icarus, I flew too close to the sun") and a fatal case of tell, don't show. The runtime of 88 minutes is far too long for what little the movie hopes to say about fate and free will. And unless you're Darren Aronofsky directing Pi, it's best not to wed grand sci-fi philosophy to indie-movie budgets. Most of the film consists of two guys in a room talking about how dark the future will be . . . any minute now . . . Armageddon lies ahead . . . possibly in the very next scene . . . which never arrives. It makes one yearn for the sci-fi clarity of Stargate, or even Hot Tub Time Machine.