The chariest maid is prodigal enough (1/6/01)
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The Book Of Life. [Hal Hartley, 1998.]
Its release having been delayed by the usual mysterious complications, this sixty-minute minifeature Hartley constructed for French television now appears as a rather belated expression of millenial anxiety: the Son of God [Martin Donovan], accompanied by his female sidekick Magdalena [P.J. Harvey], arrives in Manhattan on the last day of 1999 to set the Apocalypse in motion; has second thoughts; meets a guy with a gambling problem and his bartender girlfriend; tosses down a few shots with the Great Adversary [Thomas Jay Ryan]; and finally [to the disgust of his attorneys] decides to cancel the festivities. — Obviously this owes more than a little to Godard’s
Hail Mary. — The best gags: the Book itself is stashed on a Macintosh laptop, and when Donovan breaks the seal on its iconic representation, a dialogue box pops up asking him whether he’s sure he wants to go through with the end of the world; the gunfight with the Mormon thugs; Polly Jean sings “To Sir With Love”. — The most remarkable thing about this opus, actually, is the look, which cinematographer Jim Denault [
Boys Don’t Cry] somehow coaxed out of a digital camera [specifically, a Sony VX-1000]; without question this is the first movie I’ve ever seen shot on video that didn’t look like shit. The new century may not be wholly devoid of promise.
____________Just say no-no (1/5/01)
