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Nicolas Cage is likely the ideal pick for a bold scary movie about the biblical figure, though not for the causes some fans might assume. Actually, Cage doesn't even act as Jesus in the new film: his role is referred to simply as The Carpenter. Cage is cast as the Joseph within this narrative, striving to keep his faith while his son (portrayed by the young actor), their now-teenage adopted son, commences to show miraculous gifts. Why it's hard to picture any other major actor playing this part is that while the figure becomes stricken with various challenges, Nicolas Cage seems practically touchingly certain that the dark, bleak small film is worth his time.

The Actor's Current Film Selections

Cage has using those years more carefully recently. He yet stars in more films than most average viewers will ever see — as an illustration, were you informed that he has filmed a trio of different Westerns over the last few years? — but he also includes prestige A24/Neon gigs such as one recent hit, Pig, and a further title. The Carpenter’s Son appears to be one of those, because it’s borderline horror, potentially provocative, and handles a campy-sounding description with gravity.

The Film's Storyline and Handling

Unfortunately, filmmaker Lotfy Nathan does not reward viewer engagement. The film starts from a compellingly nomadic setting, marketed as inspired by an apocryphal lost gospel concerning Christ’s childhood. The Carpenter, The Mother, and their child travel from place to place, anxious of doctrinal intolerance or doubt regarding The Boy’s unusual abilities. “Calamity follows us,” Cage sadly observes. It goes on as dark forces attack the family where they currently live, initiating on the well-known scriptural test for The Boy.

At times, the film mirrors an demonic possession-type horror film, though not one of the main figures are clearly inhabited. Rather, they grow more and more distant mutually, as these entities influence a local young woman (Isla Johnston, credited as an outsider) that The Boy bonds with, and provides all troubling visions of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter in particular struggles with his place within the plot, sometimes scolding his child he doesn't completely grasp.

Debate and Care

The subject matter is prone to stir disagreement, and the director treats it with plenty of delicacy — too much, possibly. The idea of a teenage boy dealing with his destined offering and seduced by dark influences is indeed terrifying, but Nathan may be wary of looking exploitative and keen to signal his aims, therefore he regularly retreats into dimly foreboding cinematography. Characters brood incessantly — the singer-actress, who demonstrated notable talent in a recent film update, of all things — yields her role to her Mother Mary cloak, at times punctuated by several gruesome scary visuals.

Cage's Portrayal and Movie's Weaknesses

Simultaneously, the actor toy with just the sort of melodramatic acting that his ironic fans could be expecting. There is a moment (also included) in the trailer where Cage flips out and screams “I’ve lost my faith!” Should such of theatrical release is a component of a religious scary film, perhaps a more openly absurd style would make better use of Cage’s willingness to be extreme when necessary. On the other hand, the film is closer to the weaker low-budget movies the actor filmed during the last decade — apart from the B-movies so much as the serious stories and paranormal movies that always sound promising, and often contain some select Cage moments, but ultimately feel like, well, cheap home video fare.

Truthfully, some of those, although simpler, were easier to view as a whole. Here is where I have to disregard my own dogma, not faith-based but professional: Long ago, a beloved editor urged me to remove descriptive terms like “boring” or “dull” from my film-criticism vocabulary. Such terms communicate minimal other than a subjective and vaguely expressed restlessness, withdrawing from the duty of vividly conveying the thoughtful and sensation of seeing an individual production. It's hard to express boredom without sounding boring yourself. It's equally vague as labeling a movie “engaging.” “Elaborate,” that is.

Yet, I acknowledge, I grew weary for a large part of the film. In its defense, it is a religious style of stultification, not for The Carpenter’s Son is moralizing, but as it takes a type of dutiful submission to view it. At some point early on, the film locks into a monotonous pattern of ongoing suffering, and does not