Faith, Fermentation, and the Fear of Being Left Behind

Read Time:5 Minute, 12 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
By the Grape of God
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Genre: Comedy, Drama
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director(s): Colmcille Donston
Writer(s): Kevin Hickey
Cast: Kirk Baltz, Sean Szatkowski, Melanie Mahanna, Santeon Brown
Where to Watch: shown at the 2026 Dances with Films New York

RAVING REVIEW: What happens when faith becomes something you measure yourself against instead of something you live by? BY THE GRAPE OF GOD starts with a premise that feels almost deceptively light, then tightens its grip as it reveals what it’s actually interested in examining. This is not really a movie about wine, or even about religion in the institutional sense. It’s a character study about comparison, resentment, and the panic that sets in when a life built on belief begins to feel hollow.

Father Thomas is sixty, burned out by years of service, and clearly tired of being dutiful without feeling chosen. Father Christopher is thirty, newly ordained, endlessly well-mannered, and carrying the unbearable weight of having received a sign from God. That imbalance fuels the entire film. The wine-tasting weekend in Solvang becomes a pressure cooker where Thomas’ long-simmering insecurity finally has nowhere left to hide. The search for communion wine is almost irrelevant; it’s simply the excuse these men need to be alone together long enough for the resentment to surface.

Kirk Baltz grounds Thomas with a weary specificity that does a lot of heavy lifting for the film. His frustration never tips into caricature, even when the script nudges him toward more overtly comic situations. There is a bitterness in his performance that feels earned rather than exaggerated. Thomas isn’t cruel or malicious; he’s exhausted by the idea that faith might reward others more generously than it ever rewarded him. That jealousy is the film’s most honest emotion.

Sean Szatkowski plays Christopher with an almost dangerous sincerity. His performance risks reading as naive in lesser hands, but here it feels deliberate. Christopher’s cheerfulness isn’t ignorance; it is conviction. The film is careful not to turn him into a villain or a punchline. Instead, his certainty becomes a mirror that reflects Thomas’ doubt at him, sharper every time they interact.

Where the film gains more texture is in how it uses its supporting characters to complicate the priests’ conflict. Melanie Mahanna’s Avery and Olivia Lodge’s Olivia aren’t just romantic distractions. They represent lives unanchored from the same belief systems, for better and worse. Avery’s cynicism and Olivia’s enthusiasm expose the priests to versions of adulthood not dictated by vows or tradition. These interactions push Christopher toward temptation and Thomas toward introspection, though the film is more interested in emotional disruption than moral judgment.

The comedy works best when it arises from character friction rather than from any constructed moment. Thomas’ incessant questioning of the sommelier, his barely concealed irritation with Christopher’s optimism, and the social collisions at the vineyard all stem from the fact that they feel rooted in personality.

BY THE GRAPE OF GOD doesn’t build toward a traditional crescendo. Instead, it stacks small humiliations, quiet realizations, and subtle shifts until Thomas’ ultimatum to God no longer feels theatrical but inevitable. The idea of issuing a deadline to faith is absurd on its face, yet the film treats it with surprising seriousness. Thematically, the film is at its strongest when it examines faith as identity rather than belief. Thomas never doubts God’s existence; he doubts God’s interest in him. That distinction sharpens the perspective and keeps it from slipping into satire. This isn’t a takedown of religion. It's a portrait of what happens when devotion becomes transactional, when belief turns into a scoreboard rather than a relationship.

The ending, which is best left unspoiled, commits to ambiguity. Some viewers will find this frustrating. Others will recognize it as the only honest conclusion the film could reach. BY THE GRAPE OF GOD only struggles are in its hesitance to push certain confrontations far enough. There are moments when exchanges feel slightly restrained, as if the film is afraid to break its own tone.

The emotional unease the film will sit with you long after you’re done watching. It understands that doubt is rarely loud. More often, it is quiet, resentful, and deeply personal. BY THE GRAPE OF GOD captures that discomfort with care, even when it doesn’t interrogate every implication.

This is a thoughtful, modestly scaled film that knows exactly what it wants to explore and mostly succeeds in doing so. It may not reanalyze the genre, but it earns its place by taking its characters seriously and trusting the audience to sit with uncertainty rather than demand resolution.

BY THE GRAPE OF GOD is imperfect, restrained, and touching. A film about belief that never pretends belief is simple, and that honesty carries it further than the premise alone ever could.

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[photo courtesy of BY THE GRAPE OF GOD]

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