The Record Keeper is a modern and unusual film about the religious story of the history of humans, from the perspective of angels. It shows Heaven fracture as angels defect to the side of the General (Lucifer) whilst others stay loyal to the Prince.
Directed by Jason Satterlund, the setting of The Record Keeper is hardly celestial; instead most of the rooms are dark, grand and metallic with gears and cogs decorating every scene. The angels wear bizarre mixtures of modern and period clothing – similar to the steampunk trend we see today. Although this is strange, it somehow works.
The look of this film is by no means subtle, that is one of the few complaints; the style of the angels practically takes over each scene. Sometimes it works but it can also overshadow the story, especially towards the end. There are fantastic, wide shots of open landscape that are great. Sadly, these are only really seen towards the end of the film but they are brilliantly shot.
One of the few nice touches was that the angels do not just speak in English; conversations switch from English, to French, to German, then back to English. All of this happens in a seamless way and is actually pretty well done – it adds a nice quirk to the film aside from its appearance.
Most of the performances in The Record Keeper are strong. The film contains a lot of huge monologues and most of the actors do well in keeping you invested in what they are saying. There are a few let downs but most are from minor characters – the three leads, Lindsay Frame, Dennis Hill and JuneSoo Ham, are all good at owning their scenes when necessary.
Overall, The Record Keeper is not a perfect film but it has managed to create an interesting looking environment and master the talent of ‘world-building.’ Towards the end the pace speeds up significantly, but there are no moments in this film which are dull or boring.
The Record Keeper premiered at Raindance Film Festival in London. The festival continues until October 5th.
Had Terry Gilliam been given this idea to run with it would have been one of his greatest films.
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