‘33 & Beyond’

     

I have seen 33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry, and it is good.

I finally had chance to watch Johnny Royal’s 2017 film love letter to the fraternity yesterday and, while I won’t write a review, I recommend it.

The movie runs 90 minutes. With numerous interviews and footage of various untiled Masonic persons, places, and things, it relates philosophical interpretations of the degrees of Craft Masonry, the A&ASR-SJ major degrees, and the York Rite too.

In the interviews, we hear from young and not so young, and from famous and not yet famous brethren. Most, I think, are Californians, including Kendall, Cooper, and Doan; and there are Oklahomans Bob Davis (now Grand Master) and the late Jim Tresner, both of whom, unsurprisingly, are indispensable.

Conspicuously missing are any New Yorkers—the closest we get is a three-second clip of a homeless guy on MacDougal Street—but I guess you can’t have everything.

Watch it on Prime Video or Xumo. And stay through the end credits for a funny coda.

     

‘New film: 33 & Beyond’

     
A new film is being marketed as a definitive source of knowledge on the subject of Freemasonry. A press release disseminated yesterday says 33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry will be screened in 10 American cities, beginning with San Francisco on October 13. Excerpted from the publicity:

33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry is noted as the first film to fully examine the entire American Masonic structure, providing answers from prominent members of the Masonic brotherhood to long-time questions: the purpose and meaning of the rituals, why people join, the unique culture of the Masonic fraternity, and where the future of the ancient society is headed.

The film provides the viewer with a real behind-the-scenes perspective of the Masons’ path to enlightenment, as Freemasons from across the country share their personal experiences within the fraternity and the ultimate overarching narrative of their own “hero’s quest.”

“What begins to surface is a realization that we [the candidates] are able to be the hero or the villain in our daily lives, based on the choices we make. Freemasonry truly is a progressive moral science interlaced throughout the narrative structure of the Hero’s Quest,” says director Johnny Royal.

33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry is a film about the shared experiences of membership in the world’s oldest fraternity. Through poignant interviews and beautiful photography, the film highlights the worldwide legacy of Freemasons and their perspectives on these timeless rituals and their place in the world around them.


I have contacted the publicist to ascertain the dates, times, and places of New York City showings, and will share the information here. The San Francisco ticket prices range from $15 to $50.