The Book of Life

This movie actually gave me a migraine from its nauseating style. As awesome as it is that there's 9/11 apocalyptic imagery before it even happened (while being filmed in NYC, no less), there's just not enough to make it worthwhile.

Martin Donovan is Jesus...how did I not realize it sooner? In hindsight, it seems so obvious... Still... as in life, it's Thomas Jay Ryan's movie. Such a powerful presence, and a superlative actor. I've never heard a more cogent discussion of humans and religion as their scene in the Russian bar. I love this in spite of the über-irritating visual style. (Why?? It's Hal Hartley, so there's definitely a reason, but I'm damned if I can figure out what it is.)

Em honra dos 50 anos da maravilhosa PJ Harvey. Lembra quando a PJ Harvey foi a Maria Madalena pro Jesus Cristo do Martin Donovan num filme do Hal Hartley? Pois então. DVDRip no MakingOff.

"Maybe they'll have more than two genders" while standing in front of the World Trade center. Come on man.

Enjoyed this quite a bit. As a work of Christology, it is deeply flawed, with its human-only Jesus. However, it isn't a work of Christology per se, but rather an exploration of the human cost and call when it comes to following Jesus and/or just being a human. What does sacrifice mean? How does judgment fit into earthly life? What does it look like to resist temptation? These are elemental conversations, and Hartley presents them in a lively and interesting way.