Review of The Book of Life (1998) by Matthew P — 26 Aug 2008

Martin Donovan (DEA Agent Wonder Bread, later in his career) plays a fabulously rebellious Jesus Christ, returned to judge the quick and the dead, with PJ Harvey as Mary Magdelene, his PA.

This early digital flick has some vaguely distracting art-film qualities to it (too few frames, too long exposures, for no apparent reason) but once you settle into that it becomes a truly great movie. The dialogue is exceptional, particularly the exchanges between Christ and The Devil. The ideology is thought-provoking, and the atmosphere appropriately grim. Now if only PJ Harvey had more than two lines.