Brand new testament review

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Sign In. The Brand New Testament Hide Spoilers. Ladies, this one is for you. Some of you may have suspected it all along, but this film confirms God is a chauvinist pig well, the clues were all there, come to think of it. Luckily - but unbeknownst to most - God also has a daughter, and she's had enough of her mean-spirited, bad-tempered Father and is about to teach Him a lesson.

Brand new testament review

This irreverent, idea-filled satire asks what if everything the Bible says is wrong, and God's daughter came down to earth to set the record straight. By Peter Debruge. Chief Film Critic. When his daughter rebels and decides to simultaneously enlighten everyone on earth, all hell breaks loose, and the narrative starts to lose its thread, unspooling zany consequences that ought to convert skeptical distributors worldwide. Gone is the traditional, vaguely Zeus-like notion of God as an old man with white beard and flowing robes. Upon discovering their expiration dates, some take it better than others. There are those who carry on as usual, and those who resolve to make the most of the time they have left. One contingent foolishly tries to avert its own demise watch for Van Dormael as the driver with seconds to live , while another insists on testing its own mortality a kid named Kevin makes suicidal stunt videos jumping off bridges, etc. With tongue in cheek, Van Dormael is clearly posing the same question to audiences: What would you do if you had X days to live? They are a head-turner named Aurelie Laura Verlinden , who lost her hand in a freak subway accident; Jean-Claude Didier De Neck , an adventurer who traded it in for a desk job, but now quits herd living to follow a flock of birds; Marc Serge Lariviere , a sex maniac still fixated on his first summer crush; Francois Francois Damiens , a life-insurance salesman turned serial killer; Martine Catherine Deneuve , a loveless housewife pushed to ditch her husband for her new soulmate, who just so happens to be a gorilla; and Willy Romain Gelin , whose dying wish is to become a girl. Now we know for sure, thanks to Ea, who enlists a hobo to transcribe the gospels according to each of her new apostles. God bless freedom of speech, as there are some religions whose extremists might take such good-natured ribbing as sufficient cause to retaliate, a la Charlie Hebdo tragedy. In terms of actual offense, however, Van Dormael is no more blasphemous than one of those Monty Python animations designed by Terry Gilliam, in which a giant foot descends from the heavens to stomp on what little happiness Man can find. This time around, the Cannes programmers surveyed his work and saw that it was good.

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He lives in a high-rise apartment in Brussels and never gets out of His pajamas. Read More. Directed By : Jaco Van Dormael. Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray updated weekly as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video. To help you plan your moviegoing options, our editors have selected the most notable films releasing in February , listed in alphabetical order.

The most powerful figure in the world is a miserable old bastard who manifests a startling contempt for humanity and an utter lack of moral qualifications and who spends each day dispensing tyranny and abuse with a few ill-advised keystrokes. In the grand satirical tradition of Monty Python and Kevin Smith before him, Van Dormael takes gleeful yet disarmingly genial aim at the God of the Judeo-Christian universe — reimagined here as an angry, foul-mouthed schlub in flannel pajamas and played with an unflattering sneer by Benoit Poelvoorde. Knowledge really is power, and in this case, it provokes the whole gamut of human reactions, from liberation to despair to stupefied disbelief. A genial mind-bender with an imaginative eye for both human eccentricity and arrestingly strange production design, Van Dormael particularly likes to explore the riddle of parallel identities, of roads not taken and experiences not pursued. But within its more modest proportions, it is no less predicated on the question of whether human beings, given the right nudge, might be willing to consider an alternate narrative. The movie explores this notion by sending Ea on her own world-saving mission, which will require her to track down six willing apostles of her own. As they make their way through Brussels, they must grapple with the realities of what seemingly ordinary people might be driven to do under extraordinary circumstances. Would men at war suddenly lay down their arms? Would a young boy dream of living as a girl for a change? Would Catherine Deneuve crawl into bed with a giant gorilla?

Brand new testament review

Jaco Van Dormael has never lacked for inspired invention, but sustaining audience interest in the worlds he creates has not always proved so easy. After such a strong set-up, sustaining the story momentum and comic energy was always going to be a tough ask, and the pacing does inevitably sag as Ea hooks up with a homeless bum Marco Lorenzini , and then recruits six more apostles to contribute fresh chapters for the titular Bible update. Some of these characters — which include a sex addict, a killer and a sickly boy — register more vividly than others, but best of all is the haute-bourgeois lady Catherine Deneuve who, ignored by her businessman husband and with only five years left on her clock, enjoys an assignation with a pretty young rentboy and then finds a more enduring romantic pairing with the gorilla she purchases from a local circus. Deneuve, it is now abundantly clear, really is game for anything. Laughs reliably return every time the film cuts to the travails of God, who follows Ea through the portal which his browbeaten wife immediately seals behind him , and is mistaken for a paperless illegal immigrant. His selfish nature repels anyone who tries to help, and the indignities pile up. A ratty-faced Poelvoorde is excellent in the role, brilliantly capturing the exasperation of a man who is entirely to blame for his own misfortune. The story wraps up satisfyingly with a female-positive takeaway that gives the naturally sympathetic Moreau some nice scenes of her own. David Duchovny directs and stars in this period drama about fathers, sons and the healing power of baseball.

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As is traditional with clowns not everything is nice and jolly - there are also dark moments and sadness. If director Jaco van Dormael is to be believed, God is not some incorporeal being floating in the clouds, but a sadistic man living in an apartment in Brussels with his weak-willed wife and year-old daughter Ea. For one, the God Benoit Poelvoorde in this picture is a reprobate, swilling beer and generally making a nuisance of himself to his family and the rest of the world with those annoying laws of his. To many, this movie will seem blasphemous, but I think God has a sense of humor. But year-old daughter Ea played by a fantastic young actress, Pili Groyne is observant, gaining in powers and wants to change things. Godfrey Cheshire is a film critic, journalist and filmmaker based in New York City. Godfrey Cheshire December 09, Like, a holographic half-eaten fish which flies above the head of the boy who started eating it - and this fish wants to go back to the sea where it came from. Hover and click to give a rating Saved. All the above it was barely a magical film, so that's where you've to compromise than to expect crazy stuffs out of it. Rating: 4. Don't miss it!!!! While he is not being those towards his family, he makes up laws on his computer, laws for worldly human. As an atheist hating religion I applaud to the bravery of the authors in their portrayal of the "evil" God, and their take on "J.

Catherine Deneuve romancing a gorilla. Is pairing the French screen goddess with the big hairy guy from the zoo a funny conceit? That depends on your sense of humor.

Film of the week: Timbuktu Nick Pinkerton. Nobody, he explores ideas of reconstructing identity in the wake of personal, often familial trauma. Like, a holographic half-eaten fish which flies above the head of the boy who started eating it - and this fish wants to go back to the sea where it came from. There are some great ideas and good laughs, but all in all it could have been much much better. BFI Southbank purchases. After releasing the decease dates, Ea is out to write a 'Brand New Testament' and has to find six apostles for some reasons. An interesting idea, potentially, but the parts just didn't come together to produce a satisfying whole. When his bored and concerned daughter Ea, runs away from home to re-edit his creation as advised by her brother JC, he goes after her to ensure everything stay as he had planned. All rights reserved. Christophe Beaucarne's camera-work deserves every praise there is not give. For one, the God Benoit Poelvoorde in this picture is a reprobate, swilling beer and generally making a nuisance of himself to his family and the rest of the world with those annoying laws of his. The Brand New Testament's begins with the premise that God does exist and he lives in Brussels; with his docile wife, the Goddess, and rebellious daughter, Ea. All this happens at the beginning of the first act. One contingent foolishly tries to avert its own demise watch for Van Dormael as the driver with seconds to live , while another insists on testing its own mortality a kid named Kevin makes suicidal stunt videos jumping off bridges, etc. Gone is the traditional, vaguely Zeus-like notion of God as an old man with white beard and flowing robes.