Nearly two dozen examples of Mormon Cinema -- movies made by, for and about Mormons -- have been released since Richard Dutcher
began the trend with "God's Army" in 2000. They have run the gamut from great to awful, from comic to tragic, from admirable to laughable, but with the possible exception of Ryan Little's "Saints and Soldiers," they have not been innovative. The genre, though prolific, is only five years old. Writers and directors are still finding out what works. So it's fitting that the man who started it would return, after a four-year absence (since "Brigham City" ), to take Mormon Cinema to a new level. "States of Grace" is as accomplished a film as the movement has seen. It's a veritable epic of spiritual drama in which every character is well-drawn and well-played, multiple storylines are juggled, and things like camera movement and editing are used as tools of art, not just tools of mechanics. It's been incorrectly termed a sequel to "God's Army," but "States of Grace" shares only two minor characters with that film. It has the same setting and situation: Mormon missionaries in Santa Monica. But where "God's Army" focused on several missionaries and had a here's-what-it's-like, "day in the life" feel to it, "States of Grace" focuses on one pair of elders and has stories that are intentionally atypical. The characters don't feel like prototypes (the Obedient Elder, the Slacker Elder, etc.), but like fully realized, three-dimensional people.
To read the rest of this review, click on the relevant link below.