Henry Jesus Christ is about a woman, Patricia (Toni Collete) with terrible luck in her family life. Okay not really, but if you only watch the first ten minutes that's what it feels like. First her mom dies on her 8th birthday. A very tragic death. She caught fire while lighting her daughter's birthday candles leaving her alone with her four brothers and father. The twin brothers died in a tragic gun/car accident. This Pulp Fiction but with the guy driving instead of in the back seat. Then her brother James died from AIDS but no one ever talks about him. Her oldest brother fled to Canada when he turned 18 to avoid the draft. So it was just her and her dad for the longest time.
Patricia decided from an early age that if there was going to be any change in this world, she was going to have to fight for it and became very active in strikes and movements. One time when she was fighting for pro-choice she witnessed a little girl screaming for her mother and something snapped inside of her. Her tough girl demeanor was gone and she fell to her knees sobbing. At that moment she decided she wanted to have a little girl of her own.
After making her dad pay for some sperm 9 months later she popped out a beautiful baby boy. What? That baby was suppose to be a girl. After dealing with the shock she feel in love with her baby boy named Henry (Jason Spevack). There was just something a little off about him (especially being able to talk after a few months). Turns out Henry is a prodigy with a photographic memory. When he is just ten years old, he starts to get more curious about his biological father. Henry has a conversation with his grandfather who tells him that he bribed the place to find out who's sperm it was. Although he doesn't know the name of the father, he was somehow able to find out the name of Henry's half sister, Audrey (Samantha Weinstein). He is able to find out who is father is because he wrote a book about Audrey as if she were some experiment focusing on the fact that she is a 12 year old lesbian. Ever since the book came out, Audrey's life has been a living hell at school.
Henry tracks down his father, Dr. Slavkin O'Hara (Michael Sheen) and introduces him to his half sister Audrey. Their first encounter is a little awkward and ends with Audrey kissing Henry right before he tells her they are brother and sister. O'Hara is fascinated with Henry and decides to make him the next subject of his book. When Patricia finds out she looses it on him and threatens to kill him he writes anything about Henry. It's not until Patricia's father dies that O'Hara sees the emotion and connection that the people around him have and he decides to stop talking all of his pills that leave him devoid of feeling.
I could keep going on about the quirks in the film but that seems a good place to stop. The movie definitely seems to have a style and voice all of its own which can be refreshing after having a shitty chick flick marathon. Plus it doesn't hurt that you have Michael Sheen and Toni Collete starring in this film. They never seem to give awful performances that make you want to punch someone in the face.
Rating: ****
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