‘Saturday Church’ Film Review: Character Study of a Young Black LGBT Man Feels Too Tentative

First-time writer-director Damon Cardasis approaches his characters and their world at arm’s length

Saturday Church
Samuel Goldwyn Films

The streets of the West Village in Manhattan have become a kind of haven to African-American gay and transgender youth, and this is the tentative subject matter of “Saturday Church,” a first feature from writer-director Damon Cardasis that functions as a coming-of-age story and a small-scale musical.

Cardasis, who is Caucasian, has said that he was inspired to tell this story after volunteering at St. Luke in the Fields in the Village, which has a church program focused on at-risk youth in the area.

Luka Kain stars as 14-year-old Ulysses, who is first seen at the military funeral for his father.

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