Memorable, crazy movie

Fantastic!

best movie i've ever seen.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The Devil and Jesus discuss the end of the world on the eve of the new millennium. It's like a more humanistic and clever version of "Dogma" with lots of shaky, blur streaked Wang Kar Wai-ish digital camera work. An enjoyable experiment, but not as effortless as Hartley's earlier films. I still haven't a movie by him I haven't enjoyed. Martin Donovan as always delivers the deadpan dialog and rock starlet P.J. Harvey backs him as Magdalena his assistant (completely platonic). I think the woman whose soul get's sold is Hartley's wife. It does however benefit from a short time, never lingering longer than it needs to or wasting any time. I give it an extra half star for knowing when to close shop. A good sense of timing is important.

Like most or all Hartley's titles, not excluding the single-worded "Trust," "The Book of Life" supports at least a couple of William Empson's seven ambiguities. Not bad in an age in which publicists prefer generic, single-word, even monosyllabic titles. Scorsese's "Last Temptation" and Pasolini's version both went down with me like homework. "Dogma," though I liked some of it, felt like someone else's homework. Only Buñuel's 1965 "Simón del desierto" is more fun than Hartley's visitation.

I just saw Hal Hartley's 'The Book of Life', and while not out-and-out my favorite Hal Hartley film, it has all the charm one can expect from his work.Another reviewer complains of "predictable" and "unbelievably straightforward" (not sure what he means) jokes, and a plot that "rumbles on from one event to the next" (again, not sure how that is bad), but this is not a plot-driven or joke-driven film. It is idea-driven, and brilliantly so, as most of Hartley's films are. The film is only a few minutes more than an hour long, but it has more ideas contained within it than most feature length films. Even though he claims that "Hal" ought to have known better, and relays his experience that acting in Hartley's films is "peculiar", the other reviewer does not seem to truly be familiar with this director. If this person was, it would seem less likely that they would denigrate the performances in the film, which are quintessentially Hartley-esque. Martin Donovan, who is a treat to watch in any film but particularly in his element when working with Hartley, plays a disillusioned Jesus, who has arrived in New York with his assistant, Magdalena, on the eve of the millenium to open the final three seals on the book of life, and reluctantly unleash the Apocalypse. Satan, played by 'Henry Fool''s Thomas Jay Ryan, is also lurking about in NYC, continuing to trap souls, and grousing about the coming apocalypse, albeit for different reasons than Jesus. Although Jesus and Satan are iconic characters, this film, as one would expect from a Hal Hartley scenario, chooses instead to base it's characterizations of them on their human qualities, placing them under, rather than outside, the influence of humanity. I believe that anyone who appreciates Hal Hartley's work, or who appreciates smaller, more thought-provoking films, would find plenty to rejoice about in "The Book of Life".

This movie is one of a kind. All of the Hal elements are there. Dramatic pauses, unique camera work, off beat score, memorable one-liners (Satan: "Natural disasters...very profitable").Even Martin Donavon as the tortured J. Christ who suddenly realizes that revenge is not redemption. There is a humorous scene where Satan and Jesus meet at a bar, do a couple of shots, and discuss the future of the world. To some (Christians), this movie may seem a bit blasphemous. But that is because they are too busy putting Jesus on some pedestal while forgetting that the Bible says he was just as much a man as a god. And the Mormons love it, even though Jesus questions who they are in the film. Looking forward to Hal's next full length feature, No Such