The new movie, "The Imposter," tells the age old music industry story: sex, drugs and rock and roll, and the rise and fall of a star. Except this time, we're not talking about some mainstream act; we're talking about Christian music.
The movie centers on musician Johnny C (Kevin Max), husband, father and frontman for popular Christian rock band Grand Design. The group plays all the major Christian churches and venues, sells records and has loyal following. Johnny C has everything an artist could want. He also has an addiction to painkillers and women.
When his wife leaves him and his band kicks him out, Johnny C finds himself broke, homeless, and at rock bottom. Befriended by a church janitor who doesn't pull any punches and a homeless eccentric he can't shake no matter how hard he tries, Johnny C eventually turns his life around.
Well, starts to, anyway. Because that's one of the beautiful things about this movie: no happy ending.
"The Imposter" has it's faults, to be sure. The acting is a little weak at time and Kevin Max looks ... well, bad; the costumes make him look huge ... but the story is spot on, and for a small budget film definitely one of the better ones. Not just because most of us can relate to a story about doing stupid things and suffering the consequences, but because it gives viewers an inside look at Christian music you might not see otherwise.
The average Christian music fan believes that a band that sings about God follows God, and that huge crowds and record sales are all a blessing on a band that's doing ministry. But the reality is that sometime fame and success are curses, and have nothing to do with God.
Believe it or not, there are Christian music artists who don't understand the first thing about God, grace and redemption, who have never personally experienced the things they sing about night after night. (I interviewed Bryan Duncan recently for an article in the Christian Examiner, and he told me, ""I think of all the years I expounded Scripture through music and talked about God's marvelous grace and those kinds of things. I never had much experience on it. I just borrowed what I said and I just cut and pasted what needed to be there to be acceptable in Christian circles. I preached to thousands and lost my own soul."
Yup, there are groupies in the Christian music community who would sleep with a Christian artist if offered the chance. (I once worked with a Christian band that was propositioned more by girls in churches than when they played in bars.)
And yes, there are artists struggling with drugs, alcohol and other additions.
That's not to condemn an entire industry. But there is a myth in our culture that all Christian music artists are perfect, holier than the rest of us, with a special mission from God. After all, they are Christian musicians with big platforms, right?
"The Imposter" does a great job of telling a story about the church, for the church; this isn't necessarily one of those evangelistic movies Christians should be dragging their non-Christian friends to see in the hopes of "getting them saved." It's a film that Christians should watch and then afterwards, examine their own motives about God, Christian music music and everything related to the Christian culture.
Sure, non-Christians will definitely get the message, but ironically there's not "come to Jesus" moment. Johnny C doesn't run down the church aisle at an altar call. No big weepy prayer scene. No happy ever after ending. In fact, not much in his life changes - his wife doesn't want to get back together, he doesn't have a band, his money and fame are still gone. But his relationship with God changes, and we're left seeing the direction that change of heart is taking him.
The film features original music from Kevin Max and Jeff Deyo (who plays Grand Design bandmate James) as well as four songs from Downhere, and a new version of "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas' Kerry Livgren (who plays Prof, the janitor who gives Johnny C the swift "kick in the butt" he needs, with love of course),
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