"Mary" starts with the wrapping up of a film shoot about the life of Jesus, starring, written and directed by Tony Childress(Matthew Modine). Instead of returning to New York, Marie(Juliette Binoche), his leading lady as Mary Magdalene, flips out and decides to go to Jerusalem. Director Abel Ferrara picks up the
story a year later with the imminent and controversial release of the movie but instead of focusing on Tony or Marie, Ted(Forest Whitaker), a television personality, takes center stage by interviewing experts on Jesus, allowing them to simultaneously pontificate and drag the movie down. As Ted's ratings somehow go up, his personal life is falling apart as he argues with his very pregnant wife Elizabeth(Heather Graham), probably because unbeknowst to her, he is having an affair with Gretchen(Marion Cotillard), his producer, who he also ends up betraying. All this proves is that Forest Whitaker can give an excellent performance even when playing a walking cliche.
Now there is more than enough in the above to provide a very astute commentary on religion and spirituality(which "Jesus in Montreal" did so very well), but Ferrara never pulls it together into a single coherent thought. Is it supposed to be about how only a spiritual man can make a thoughtful movie about Jesus(which Pasolini disproved anyway) or how much religious violence there is in the world today? Tony is too much a jackass to get a clear sense of what he is thinking(if anything) while Marie simply remains a cipher during her brief time on screen. At least with "Bad Lieutenant," I could see what Ferrara was thinking, even if he was daft enough to put the Mets in god's divine plan. Trust me, it would not work as well with the Yankees...
September 30, 2009
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