NOAH, A BIZARRE AND ENGAGING EPIC

Biblical scholars will choke on their popcorn when they see writer-director Darren Aronofsky’s interpretation of Noah. Aronofsky worked in earlier parts of Genesis just in case you didn’t know about the Garden of Eden. I must say that I loved the snake slithering in, shedding his skin, and flashing his forked tongue. The pulsing apple was pretty hot too. And the cartoon-like silhouettes of Cain slaying Abel were compelling. The performances by Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, and Anthony Hopkins, and the rest of the cast were brilliant, despite their threaded eyebrows and English accents. And even though we know the animal pairs are computer-generated, what a thrill to see them crawling and galumphing toward the arc. The fallen angels, “the watchers” were kind of hokey in their stone bodies, but they grow on you, and you find yourself cheering them on.

Don’t take your small children to see this. This version of Noah makes you aware, on a gut-level, of the damned and the drowned.