The new biblical horror film The Carpenter’s Son really drives home how strange it might have been to live between A.D. and 33 A.D. At this point in time, Egypt is under the control of the Roman Empire and the Jewish community and scholars are anticipating the return of the Messiah. In an extreme measure to fend off the arrival of a “King,” the Romans order infants to be murdered. As luck would have it, The Carpenter (Nicolas Cage) and The Mother (FKA twigs) are “blessed” with a new baby boy. But as fate would have it, escaping their hometown would prove to be easy in comparison with raising a teenager, much less one suspected of divinity.
Writer, director Lotfy Nathan delivers an interesting if mild take on the teen years of someone suspected of being the son of God. Based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, an apocryphal text from the second century that describes Jesus’s childhood, The Carpenter’s Son was what I expected. Respectable production values, an ensemble of accomplished actors, and Nicholas cage in a tragic wig that starts off with promise that just becomes silly.
Moving from town to town in an attempt to stay in hiding, The Carpenter, The Mother, and The Boy (Noah Jupe) settle into a new rural society. At 15 years old, the Boy is assisting the local Rabbi in teaching God’s word while his mother avoids making any real friends and his father remains bitterly suspicious of everyone. Eventually The Boy meets The Stranger (Isla Johnston) on the outskirts of the settlement is tricked into discovering his “divine” powers. Matters only get worse as The Boy’s abilities become obvious to everyone around him while The Carpenter does everything to lay low.
With the Jesus story told from the point of view of a teenager, there are some really interesting things happening. Likening divinity to self awareness and acceptance, writer-director Nathan puts The Boy through one trial after another. Additionally, The Carpenter’s habit of repressing his son’s talent serves as an intriguing subplot. To his credit, Jupe plays the titular Carpenter’s Son, well, with a doe-eyed mix of naiveté and simmering rage. Additionally Twigs wistfully traipses through her role well enough for us to buy that she is pretty much fully succumbed to the fate of being at the mercy of an indifferent god and a neurotic husband.
Sadly, Cage is allowed to be Cage. Sometimes this works in a project and sometimes it doesn’t. The Carpenter’s Son is in the latter category. Here we have an ensemble of accomplished actors playing things strait as an arrow with deadly serious conviction. Then there’s Cage who mumbles through his scant collection of lines with a deep nasally flat dialect, looking to be twice the age that the part calls for, and defaulting to a pained face for nearly every scene. Let’s be clear. Cage has the propensity for brilliant Oscar-winning performances, but as The Carpenter, he sticks out like a thumb that has just been whacked by a hammer.
In the end, we discover who The Boy is, along with his creepy friend, The Stranger, and things get wrapped up in time for the next scheduled crucifixion. I give writer-director Nathan full credit for the what is overall a handsome film, but it struggles to summon real, unpredictable tension and can’t seem to overcome the heavy millstone of a performance by Cage. The Carpenter’s Son won’t send you to Hell, but you won’t get to Horror Heaven either.
