{"id":128975,"date":"2025-11-12T08:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T08:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/128975\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T08:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T08:27:12","slug":"biblical-fantasy-meets-elevated-horror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/128975\/","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Fantasy Meets Elevated Horror"},"content":{"rendered":"

When recently asked about Nicolas Cage\u2019s desire to work with him, Robert Eggers stated that he would find it a challenge to fit the actor, given his intense aura of \u201cmodernity,\u201d into the period works that the Nosferatu<\/a> director is devoted to making. With that in mind, Cage\u2019s performance in writer-director Lotfy Nathan\u2019s The Carpenter\u2019s Son, a biblical fantasy whose dreary, static solemnity certainly bears echoes of Eggers\u2019s work, could be seen as something of a stealth audition. But it\u2019s difficult to imagine Cage\u2019s subdued role within it making much of an impression on either his industry peers or his rabid fanbase.<\/p>\n

Inspired by the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Nathan\u2019s film follows an adolescent Jesus (Noah Jupe) as he travels through the Roman Egypt desert with his mother, Mary (FKA twigs), and father, Joseph (Cage). Going to great lengths to hide their identities, the family takes refuge in a rural village, and it\u2019s there that Jesus\u2019s powers begin to manifest, much to the interest of their new neighbors. He also begins a tentative dalliance with a mysterious and mischievous girl (Isla Johnston) of the same age, who encourages the boy\u2019s powers for dubious ends. As soon as Jesus begins to exhibit aggressive and vindictive behavior, it becomes clear that his manipulative new playmate is none other than the embodiment of Satan.<\/p>\n

Nathan, who began his career in documentary with the evocative community portrait 12 O\u2019Clock Boys<\/a>, initially seems to aspire to the verit\u00e9 quality of Pier Paolo Pasolini\u2019s The Gospel According to St. Matthew<\/a>, or even Martin Scorsese\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ<\/a>, with Simon Beaufils\u2019s camera traversing the desert landscapes and the figures that populate them with vivid immediacy. Any attempt at serious theological inquiry, though, soon becomes subsumed in a host of chintzy supernatural shenanigans that turn Nathan\u2019s film into an all-too-familiar \u201celevated horror\u201d extravaganza. But The Carpenter\u2019s Son fails to even offer decent frights, unless one finds the preponderance of CGI snakes particularly scary.<\/p>\n

Narratively, the film takes the form of a simplistic coming-of-age story, with the young Jesus\u2019s rebellion against Joseph\u2019s strict mentorship positioned as a heightened show of typical teenage angst. Jupe signifies his internal conflict by stomping around with a furrowed brow, which remains unwavering whether he\u2019s marvelling at bringing a dead cricket back to life or throwing demon-influenced temper tantrums when he begins to discover the truth of his holy origins. Meanwhile, as Mary, twigs is confined to sitting silently on the sidelines, an immaculate object whose sole purpose is to flash expressions of vague concern at the proceedings.<\/p>\n

As for Cage, his performance is unusually muted, perhaps to keep in line with the strained seriousness of The Carpenter\u2019s Son. But considering that the film does eventually devolve into the sort of B-movie hokum that the actor has so often gleefully attached himself to, it\u2019s disappointing to witness the degree to which he\u2019s allowed himself to be reined in. Reportedly, Cage was attacked by bees at one point during the film\u2019s harsh shoot, which brings to mind his iconic camp turn in Neil LaBute\u2019s remake of The Wicker Man<\/a>. Had The Carpenter\u2019s Son possessed the anything-goes energy of that film, then it may have been able to breathe some fresh life into its source material, rather than feel so maddeningly stuck in the mud.<\/p>\n

Score:\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cast: Nicolas Cage, Noah Jupe, FKA twigs, Isla Johnston, Souheila Yacoub \u00a0Director: Lotfy Nathan \u00a0Screenwriter: Lotfy Nathan \u00a0Distributor: Magnolia Pictures \u00a0Running Time: 94 min \u00a0Rating: R \u00a0Year: 2025
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