The Actor's Religious Horror Movie Is Less Extreme as It Sounds

Nicolas Cage could be the ideal choice for a audacious scary movie about the biblical figure, though not for the reasons certain viewers could guess. Actually, the star does not even act as Jesus in the new film: the part he plays is credited only as a craftsman. The actor is positioned as a father figure within this narrative, working to uphold his faith as The Boy (played by the young actor), their teenage adopted son, commences to show miraculous gifts. Why it's hard to picture another prominent performer in this role is that while his character grows stricken with multiple trials, the actor seems nearly emotionally convinced that this murky, somber feature is deserving of his effort.

The Actor's Latest Film Selections

Cage has allocating those years more selectively recently. He yet does more movies than the majority of casual fans may ever watch — as an illustration, are you aware that he has completed three distinct cowboy movies recently? — however he also includes high-profile critically acclaimed roles such as one recent hit, another notable movie, and a further title. This new film appears to be a similar project, in that it’s genre-adjacent, likely to stir debate, and takes a over-the-top description quite seriously.

Movie's Premise and Execution

Sadly, writer-director Lotfy Nathan does not reward viewer engagement. The film starts from a compellingly nomadic setting, presented as drawing from an obscure religious text concerning Christ’s childhood. The Carpenter, the maternal figure, and their son travel from place to place, anxious of doctrinal intolerance or doubt about The Boy’s mysterious gifts. “Calamity follows us,” The Carpenter gloomily remarks. It goes on when sinister entities focus on the family where they currently live, getting a jump-start on the well-known scriptural test for the youth.

Sometimes, the movie echoes an demonic possession-type horror film, except that not one of the central roles are directly possessed. On the contrary, they become more and more distant from one another, as these entities affect a nearby girl (the actress, listed as an outsider) who The Boy forms a relationship with, and gives all disturbing images of a grim future. The Carpenter notably struggles with his position in the narrative, sometimes chastising his child he doesn't completely grasp.

Discussion and Caution

The subject matter is apt to invite debate, and Nathan approaches it with a lot of delicacy — overly, perhaps. The idea of a young man confronted with his eventual sacrifice and lured by mysterious forces is certainly terrifying, but the filmmaker may be hesitant regarding seeming gratuitous and eager to telegraph his goals, thus he frequently falls back on darkly ominous cinematography. The roles constantly ponder — the singer-actress, who displayed genuine potential in another movie, interestingly — yields her performance to her character's costume, occasionally interrupted by some gruesome scary visuals.

The Star's Performance and Film's Flaws

At the same time, Cage toy with exactly the kind of exaggerated performance that those who enjoy his campier roles might be looking for. An instance (also included) in previews in which Cage flips out and shouts “My belief is broken!” When this sort of theatrical release is part of a Jesus-themed horror movie, maybe a more openly absurd approach would be more effective of the actor's readiness to be extreme if needed. On the other hand, the film is closer to the weaker direct-to-video films he starred in over the last decade — not the cheesy thrillers but rather the narrative films and ghost stories that typically appear interesting, and usually have several notable actor's highlights, but in the end seem like, well, low-budget DTV material.

Frankly, a number of those, though not as grand, were easier to view in general. This is when I have to break my own dogma, not spiritual but work-oriented: Years back, a respected mentor urged me to eliminate words like “boring” or “dull” from my film-criticism vocabulary. Such terms communicate minimal but a subjective and broadly stated impatience, avoiding the duty of clearly expressing the intellectual and sensation of watching a particular movie. It's challenging to convey tedium without seeming uninteresting yourself. It's just as unclear as calling a movie “notable.” “Say more,” essentially.

However, I admit, I felt uninterested for a large part of The Carpenter’s Son. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it’s a religious style of stultification, not because The Carpenter’s Son is moralizing, but because it takes a kind of obedient endurance to sit through it. Eventually early on, the movie settles into a cyclic tempo of ongoing suffering, and fails to