The Carpenter’s Son
review by Bobby Blakey
Nicolas Cage has been on the upswing with some great flicks including PIG, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Longlegs and most recently The Surfer. While known for taking on unique and often unusual roles his latest in The Carpenter’s Son might be the biggest gamble yet. The film co-stars FKA twigs, Noah Jupe and Isla Johnston with director Lofty Nathan at the helm. Could this controversial film be yet another great entry into Cage’s resume or will it fail to be worth praising?
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The Carpenter’s Son follows a remote village in Roman-era Egypt that explodes into spiritual warfare when a carpenter, his wife and their child are targeted by supernatural forces in The Carpenter’s Son. Joseph, Mary and their teenage son Jesus have lived for years under threat, clinging to their faith and traditions. But a stopover in a small settlement unleashes growing chaos when a mysterious stranger tries to entice young Jesus to abandon his devout father’s rules. With every pull of temptation, the boy is lured into a forbidden world, as a terrified Joseph realizes that a demonic power is at work. Violent, unnatural events inexplicably follow Jesus, and he begins to experience nightmarish visions of the future. Finally, he learns the fearsome truth about his new playmate, as well as the child’s real name: Satan. Writer and director Lotfy Nathan, drawing from his Coptic Christian background, delivers a meticulously crafted, genre-bending supernatural thriller packed with unshakeable images of the divine and demonic at war.
Heading into this film I knew that people were up in arms about the film with no doubt having zero idea of what it is. It is not based on any biblical story, but instead The Infancy Gospel of Thomas which of course is controversial in and of itself. The story though here is actually quite interesting in the idea of navigating
through the evil of the world and the miracles that Jesus enacts while being too young to understand any of it yet. With the faith basis of religion everyone has their own beliefs, but going into this with an open mind it offers some interesting narratives that I didn’t feel disrespected anything that comes directly to the bible. I have no doubt that it won’t change anyone’s mind but allowing the story and idea to play out is compelling.
There are some good performances here with Cage once again going all into success. Where the film struggles is in the pacing itself. Where there is a story worth telling in this unique way, it still never finds its way out of being slow and often hard to stay invested in. There are some great directions, but without a path that keeps the viewer fully engaged and eager to see how it plays out.
In the end it is a good film that takes a chance worth taking, but not one that fully rises to the levels of the source material it could have been. Decide for yourself and check out The Carpenter’s Son in theaters now from Magnolia Pictures.