Movie review: ‘Repentance,’ an unforgivable waste of acting talent

The ludicrous and bloody New Orleans melodrama “Repentance” offers the despairing sight of talented actors in full flounder.

There’s Forest Whitaker, as a basket-case divorcee and father who never got over his dead mother, stomping around with a mopey expression and a jittery left hand that’s bad-movie shorthand for impending psychosis.

There’s Anthony Mackie, as a bestselling self-help author who changed his life after a devastating car accident, smiling uncomfortably through ridiculous therapy sessions with Whitaker — $300 an hour! — that involve little more than saying, “Breathe! Be verbal!”

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On the periphery are Sanaa Lathan as Mackie’s yoga-instructor wife, working hard to look concerned eight different ways while holding a foam mat, and Mike Epps as the ne’er-do-well brother who needs money.

When the movie segues into a torture-driven, logic-challenged hostage drama during which Dark and Obvious Secrets Are Revealed, the real showdown is an internal one for the moviegoer: between delivering the laughter that Philippe Caland’s blunt, awkward directing deserves, and sitting in silent bewilderment at how quickly a strong cast’s collective dignity dissolves in the face of such dumb material. Although seeing Mackie wrapped in plastic save a tiny breathing hole, pleading for mercy, it’s not hard to relate.

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“Repentance”

MPAA rating: R for violence, including torture, and for language.

Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.

Playing: In limited release.