Sinner - DVD Review

One of the lead characters in this low-key, well-acted drama seems to have emerged full-blown from a Jim Thompson-style noir plot: a hooker-grifter (Georgina Cates, Clay Pigeons) who blackmails priests for a living. However, the film isn’t a crime thriller—it’s a somewhat theatrical piece that throws the grifter in with an earnest priest (Nick Chinlund, Ultraviolet) in a failing parish. A third-act revelation, which has nothing to do with sex, is one of several plot contrivances that are carried off fairly well by Chinlund, Cates and perennial scene-stealer Brad Dourif.

Shelf Talk: Sinner has won several film-festival awards, which will no doubt be the linchpin of its advertising campaign. A screening tour “focusing on Catholic church groups” might be a little dicey, as the film contains some very adult language in a few scenes.