A Few Thoughts on "Through a Screen Darkly"

I seem to be in the middle of book review week at the moment, and as a bout of ill health enabled me to finish reading Jeffrey Overstreet's "Through a Screen Darkly" at the weekend I thought I'd post a few comments about it here. This is not an official review as such, because Jeffrey's a friend, and has very much shaped the way I think about film. There's simply no way that I could be balanced and objective about the book. It also makes it harder to know which ideas etc. are new and original when you read glimpses of them on his blog, and discuss them on Arts and Faith.

Having said that there was much in this book that was new, even to me. Of course the same Overstreet approach to the arts was there, replete with advice on how to look closer, hear what the film is trying to say, and spot the fingerprints of the Almighty. At the same time it's clear that this is far from a re-hash of past glories. Jeffrey writes here about films I've heard him discuss numerous times before, but he also brings a freshness to them. Take, for example, Punch Drunk Lve one of my favourite films of all time. Over the years I've read various bits and pieces that Jeffrey has written on this film, but his comments here were fresh. Instead of the welcome air of familiarity I was expecting, I found myself having to consider new insights.

It's not just the number of observations that Jeffrey makes that make this book an addictive read - he also has a wonderfully fluent writing style. Jeffrey's next stop is the imminent release of his first novel "Auralia's Colours", which has already garnered some impressive reviews. His double life has served him well. At times, "Through a Screen Darkly" feels like a novel as it weaves together plot synopses, commentary and auto-biography into a single well-tailored garment.

It seems like the book has, so far, been well received - in fact just the other day I heard about it being added to the required reading list for an undergrad film programme in LA. In truth I don't imagine that it's primarily written for that kind of audience - but it's significant that it's considered to be suitable for that standard as well as a general audience.

Like I said - far from impartial - but then I suppose given how much I've enjoyed Jeffrey's writing in the past, this would have had to have been quite disappointing for me to think otherwise. Thankfully, quite the opposite is true.

"Through a Screen Darkly" now available

Back in September I mentioned my friend Jeffrey Overstreet's (then) forthcoming book Through a Screen Darkly. Technically it's not meant to be available until the 5th February, but Amazon already have it in stock, and I have a number of friends who have their copies already.

I decided a while back, however, that I'm not going to review this book. In honesty, I'm just far too excited by it's publication to be able to give any kind of rational, objective critique. I first "met" Jeffrey back in 2002, and in the intervening period he has taught me an incredible amount about film criticism and has been a constant inspiration. He's also a thoroughly decent bloke. Articulate, and passionate, but willing to put his hands up on the rare occasion he makes a mistake. And the guy just has a great way with words, which is a tremendous advantage when you're writing a book.

Even though I'm not going to review the book, I will definitely be getting a copy very soon (and adding it to my wish list in the meantime - ooh, a quick plug for my brother's excellent free & independent wish list site GiftsList.co.uk), particularly as it's available in the UK as well.

Jeffrey also has an Amazon blog for the book. There are also a number of reviews out for "Through a Screen Darkly" already.

Coming Soon - "Through a Screen Darkly"

I've known Jeffrey Overstreet for a number of years now, and he has taught me as much about film appreciation as anyone I can think of. So I was really pleased to hear that he's getting a book published this autumn. "Through a Screen Darkly" will be available on the 5th February next year, and Amazon have finally added a picture of the cool front cover to their pre-order page. And it looks like it will be available in the UK too!

Jeffrey has also started a blog for the book - Through a Screen Darkly - The Blog.

Bible Films Blog Review of 2007

This blog is officially two years old in the next few days, and recently I've had a number of people surprised that I was still finding fresh material. I must say that I count myself among them! Actually that's a bit of an exaggeration. I always knew that there was plenty of material here to discuss, but at the same time I'm surprised that there has been so much news to cover. As a result I thought it might be worth concluding the year with a bit of a review.

2007 was the year that Moses really made it big at the cinema, with three different films examining material from the Book of Exodus. 50 years after The Ten Commandments performed spectacularly well at the box office Promenade Pictures' animated re-telling of the Moses story used the same name. Somewhat less reverently, David Wain's The Ten used the idea of the Ten Commandments to string together a series of sketches. Finally Penny Woodcock's Exodus was a challenging reconstruction of the story of the Exodus set in modern day Margate.But it wasn't just Moses that got in on the action there was also Corina van Eijk's Samson and Delilah, and of course Evan Almighty. The New Testament had but a single representative, the lacklustre Magdelena, Released from Shame.

Away from cinemas there were a few noteworethy productions on the TV as well. Friends and Heroes wove stories from the Bible into it's children's story of a family living in 1st century Alexandria. There was also The Liverpool Nativity. There was also a number of documentaries. The year was topped and tailed by Channel 4's night on Life of Brian which included two on The Pythons. The year's major documentary, however was James Cameron's Lost Tomb of Jesus. On a personal note I also got to see a number of other Bible films that I had waited for a while to see. Chief amongst them was Rossellini's Atti Degli Apostoli, which took 5 hours (not to mention travel time), but which I'd revisit in a flash given half a chance. I also got a first look at Cammina Cammina, Esther and the King, Golem Spirit of Exile, Story of Ruth, Noah's Ark, Silver Chalice, La Ricotta from RoGoPaG and Lance Tracey's The Cross. Perhaps my favourite find of the year, however, was the hilarious Real Old Testament.

There were also a number of new books written on the subject. January saw the release of Adele Reinhartz's flowing, and very engaging "Jesus of Hollywood". Thomas Langkau focussed on the last fifteen years in his "Filmstar Jesus Christus" in German, Stephen Lang published his broader, if slightly dull "Bible on the Big Screen", and Staley and Walsh's invaluable "Jesus, the Gospels and Cinematic Imagination". Sadly, I wasn't given the opportunity to review "Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications", but there were two contrasting and complementary reviews from Mark Goodacre and Timothy D. Finlay

Films based on the Bible also got a mention in various other books about faith in film including Melanie Wright's "Religion and Film", Flesher and Torry's "Film and Religion", Johnston's revised "Reel Spirituality" and Jeffrey Overstreet's hugely enjoyable "Through a Screen Darkly".

So all in all a surprisingly busy year and 2008 looks likely to be equally busy with a host of films in production, the pick of which looks likely to be the BBC's The Passion in partnership with HBO.

Articles at Christianity Today

There are a number of articles at Christianity Today that I'd like to highlight.

Firstly, there is an article by Peter Chattaway on the Definitive Edition DVD of The Passion of The Christ. Peter notes how the DVD contains both the original cut and Passion re-cut, how it has 4 commentary tracks and numerous featurettes, and also how many of those are dated 2005, as if it was originally due for a much earlier release. Strangely, particularly given Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks last year, the line from Matt 27:25 which he took out of the original film due to its anti-Semitic connotations has been incorporated here as a "deleted scene".

Then there's their list of the Ten Most Redeeming Films of 2006 (HT to Tyler Williams). This is not the "best of" list, but simply the "most redeeming" as voted by the CT writers. The ten are as follows:

1 - The Nativity Story (Catherine Hardwicke)
2 - The New World (Terrence Malick)
3 - Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Marc Rothemund)
4 - Joyeux Noel (Christian Carion)
5 - The Second Chance (Steve Taylor)
6 - Charlotte’s Web (Gary Winick)
7 - Tsotsi (Gavin Hood)
8 - The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones)
9 - Akeelah and the Bee (Doug Atchison)
10 - Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón)

I've seen 6 of this list, and I'm keen to watch Joyeux Noel (Christmas was particularly busy this year so no chance), but it's the honourable mentions that give me a few ideas of things I really need to catch. Overall the list grabs a number of good films, but is off, in my opinion at least, in a few places. For example, despite it's merits, The Nativity Story does not, in my book, deserve to be number one. And whilst I haven't seen it, I'm struggling to believe that Charlotte’s Web (#6) deserves to be higher than Tsotsi, The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrada, or Children of Men.


Finally, there's a review of Jeffrey Overstreet's new book, "Through a Screen Darkly". Eric Miller's review heaps praise on the book. Whilst a cynic might point to the fact that Overstreet also writes for CT, that explanation doesn't explain why Publishers Weekly also give it a "starred" review.

Dante's Inferno with Animated Cardbaord Cut Outs

Jeffrey Overstreet alerted me to an interesting story at Twitch. Sean Meredith, Paul Zaloom and Sandow Birk are bringing an animated version of "Dante's Inferno" to the screen using cardboard cut outs. There's plenty of information about the film at the handsome official website, including the following description:

Melding the seemingly disparate traditions of apocalyptic live-action graphic novel and charming Victoria-era toy theater, Dante’s Inferno is a subversive, darkly satirical update of the original 14th century literary classic. Retold with the use of intricately hand-drawn paper puppets and miniature sets, and without the use of CGI effects, this unusual travelogue takes viewers on a tour of hell. And what we find there, looks a lot like the modern world.

Sporting a hoodie and a hang-over from the previous night’s debauchery, Dante (voiced by Dermot Mulroney) wakes to find he is lost — physically and metaphorically — in a strange part of town. He asks the first guy he sees for some help: The ancient Roman poet Virgil (voiced by James Cromwell), wearing a mullet and what looks like a brown bathrobe. Having no one else to turn to, Dante’s quickly convinced that his only means for survival is to follow Virgil voyage down, down through the depths of Hell.

The pair cross into the underworld and there Virgil shows Dante the underbelly of the Inferno, which closely resembles the decayed landscape of modern urban life. Dante and Virgil’s chronicles are set against a familiar backdrop of used car lots, strip malls, gated communities, airport security checks, and the U.S. Capitol. Here, hot tubs simmer with sinners, and the river Styx is engorged with sewage swimmers.

It sounds very interesting. I do have one major concern at this point, however. Wouldn't the paper puppets burn rather easily?