MARY
(director: D. J. Caruso; screenwriter: Timothy Michael Hayes; cinematographer: Gavin Struthers; editor: Jim Page; music: Tim Williams; cast: Noa Cohen (Mary/narrator), Ido Tako (Joseph), Anthony Hopkins (Herod), Mili Avital (Mariamne), Stephanie Nur (Salome), Eamon Farren (Satan), Soufiane El Khalidy (Frustrated Pilgrim), Ori Pfeffer (Joachim), Hilla Vidor (Anne), Dudley O’Shaughnessy (Gabriel), Keren Tzur (Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mom), Gudmundur Thorvaldsson (Marcellus); Runtime: 112; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Mary Aloe, Joshua Harris, Hannah Leader, Gillian Hormel; Netflix; 2024-USA/UK)
“Disappointing religious picture, a fictionalized drama on the Virgin Mary that seems as dry as the desert.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
D. J. Caruso (“I Am Number Four”/”Eagle Eye”) directs this disappointing religious picture, a fictionalized drama on the Virgin Mary that seems as dry as the desert. It’s limply written by Timothy Michael Hayes.
Mary, the young future mother of God, is played passively by the Jewish Israeli actress Noa Cohen. She also acts as narrator. Mary states “You may think you know my story. Trust me, you don’t.”
The beleaguered pic, which adds nothing new to the biblical story, takes us through some Sunday school Bible moments, as we see the crazed tyrant King Herod the Great of Judea (Anthony Hopkins) issue a decree to kill any new born child in the ancient land of Israel. Hopkins in his brief cameo is terrific as the cruel baddie, and stands out in a pic where no one else does.
Mary roams the desert and prays for God to make her pregnant with a child, to please her olive farmer father (Ori Pfeffer) who wants a child. The angel Gabriel (Dudley O’Shaughnessy) lets her father know that his wish is granted and she gives birth to Jesus, the Messiah, in Bethlehem. There she evades Herod’s henchmen and a barn fire, to dwell in the desert, as she puts baby Jesus in a wicker basket and tosses him to safety.
The visuals are fine and the storytelling might be awkward and too reverential, but it’s at least sincere. But there are too many better films on this subject to see than this disposable one.
REVIEWED ON 12/12/2024 GRADE: C
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