Prior to Clancy, Jefferson Moore focused on playing Jesus, both in Passion Plays and in his Stranger films and TV series. In Clancy, he moves away from the divine to take on what might be a more difficult role – portraying a Gulf War vet who reluctantly becomes the guardian of a young runaway.

Synopsis
Clancy is a 12-year-old who suffers mental and physical abuse at the hands of her drugged-out mother. When she overhears neighbors saying that maybe Clancy's mother could get the help she needs if Clancy weren't around, she packs a bag with peanut butter sandwiches, grabs her teddy bear, and runs away.

Once out on the streets, Clancy navigates her way fairly fearlessly until she meets Nick, a Gulf War vet with his own problems. Nick's inability to deal with his own issues keeps him living on the streets, working odd jobs to buy a few groceries now and then. The last thing he wants or needs is responsibility for a 12-year-old girl. But the mayor, in need of a PR boost before a critical election, has other plans and uses Nick and Clancy for his own gain.

Good Match of Characters
Moore's Perfect Stranger films are much more dialogue-driven, with just enough action woven in to keep things interesting. Clancy, on the other hand, is more of a road trip film, following Nick and Clancy as they encounter various characters on the streets of their hometown, then take off on a journey to a hunting shack in the woods. Moore's productions keep improving, and Clancy is possibly the strongest production yet. There are more characters, more locations to manage, and multiple storylines running through the film that make it a more complex film.

So far, Moore is a quiet actor, relying on his expressions and dialogues to reveal the inner thoughts of his characters. In that sense, Clancy doesn't stretch him terribly, but does give him a chance to get more physical and, because of the psychological makeup of his character, to dig a little deeper to show his internal conflict. Unlike his roles as Jesus, he's also not immediately likeable. Rather, he's a man in need of redemption. And he begins to find it through his small traveling companion.

Christina Dawn Fougnie is charming as Clancy, and manages a convincing mix of innocence and boldness. When she does break through to Moore's character, it's because she is both naïve and a little pushy with him. I think her character is written younger than 12 years old, so the age is stretching it a little. Fougnie shows a lot of promise and I hope to see more of her in the future.

A major theme in this film is the redemption of a man through the persistence of an innocent child. While it might not be politically correct in these days of rampant occurrences of child molestation, the story manages to stay away from any shadiness in that regard and instead serve as a reminder of one of Jesus' lessons: Unless you become as a little child, you can't enter the kingdom of heaven.

Rating
Clancy doesn't have an MPAA rating, but because there are scenes of child abuse and child peril, it's squarely in the PG category, with some caution for very young children.

Courtesy of the producer, Angela screened a promotional DVD of Clancy.