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'Hidden Light' Film Review,
Drug dealers, adulterers and guilt-plagued priests weave a familiar narrative web in Hidden Light, Aaron Kamp's interlaced-stories drama from Australia. Earnest and serious-minded but never really approaching the level of the story-dense dramas that clearly inspired it, the picture proves stiffly unconvincing long before it reveals a divine-intervention theme that would likely present a problem for many American arthouse patrons. Theatrical prospects are slim, but with persistence the film could reach a sliver of the faith-centric audience on video.

Though the ensemble really has no lead, the story's moral center is Jack Jovcic's Jovan, a reformed drug dealer who now serves as apprentice priest in a conservative Christian church. Secretly, he beats himself with a cat o' nine tails as penance for his crimes, but even in public life, his self-sacrificing ways are obvious enough to draw "give yourself a break" pep talks from fellow believers. "You try to help everyone — atone for your past mistakes," a fellow priest notes helpfully.

Drago (Troy Coward), a member of Jovan's congregation, is a drug dealer who, upon learning he's going to be a father, wants to leave the game behind. But when he goes to boss Savor (Jag Pannu), he's told he'll only be out when he's dead. (The boss's dialogue — "You are my best dealer. You make me a lot of money." — doesn't exactly ring with authenticity.) Knowing Jovan's past, Drago goes to him in hopes of some strong-arm help, but Jovan refuses to resort to violence.