SATURDAY CHURCH – QFest St. Louis Review

SATURDAY CHURCH screens Saturday, Apr. 7th at 5:30pm at the .ZACK (3224 Locust St., St. Louis, MO 63103) as part of this year’s QFest St. Louis. Ticket information can be found HERE

A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

Review by Stephen Tronicek

To watch someone truly find themselves and become who they truly are is one of the most beautiful things in the world. Films celebrate this in different ways, whether it be a celebration of the embrace of a certain art form, whether it be the way that love can draw “you” out, and most important in this age, the discovery of one’s identity. Of one’s rightful status of personhood. Luckily for us, Saturday Church celebrates all three of these things in one of the most euphoric ways ever put to film. It’s a film about discovery and the boundless excitement of that, that expresses itself with an almost unparalleled amount of craft. That’s not to say that it is naive though, just that it holds an optimism and grace that most films aren’t able to capture.

At the start of Saturday Church Ulysses (Luka Kain) is, like many transgender youths, finds herself aware of her identity and yet unable to freely express said identity due to the social restrictions surrounding her. When she meets a few other transgender women, they take her to the “Saturday Church” event, a semi-underground gathering of gay and transgender persons, a place where Ulysses can start to become herself. At the same time though, Ulysses identity is being challenged by her family, especially her extremely religious Aunt Rose (Regina Taylor).

If that plot sounds a bit formulaic, I suppose in some ways it is. In the way it is told here, that is simply not the case. Saturday Church is not only one the best variations on this story ever put to screen (Pariah and Moonlight are great ones), but it also manages to capture this story with an unbelievably vivid lens. Writer/director Damon Cardasis weaves his story not just with the elements of traditional drama, but also those of the candy color musical, creating a film that is both a visual marvel and a dramatic feast, punctuated by music that could challenge even the best modern musical film.

The assortment of tones means that Cardasis needs to basically use all of his tools as a director to juggle the disparate tones in the center of the film, which he does with style. The musical numbers aren’t telegraphed within the plot so when they appear, they do so with a level of ecstatic freshness that something like the rigid structure of La La Land wouldn’t provide. They feel like real moments of passion, exploding out of the film in nuanced and gleeful fashion. Kain is so wonderful onscreen that it his presence only serves to enhance the dreamy effect of the music, though there are a couple of times that Margot Bingham almost runs away with the entire movie. The entire cast is integrated incredibly well into the film and they all serve the joyfulness of Cardasis’ vision.

Saturday Church is one of the best discoveries of the early year and hopefully it will be embraced as this young year comes to a close. As it stands, it’s an expertly crafted crowd pleaser that I can’t imagine not making any sensible person smile. After all, who doesn’t want the wish fulfillment of finding a part of yourself through a lens so enjoyable?