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Director:
Scott McGehee and David Siegel
Cast:
Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche, Flora Cross, Max Minghella, Kate
Bosworth |
MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for thematic elements, a scene of sensuality and brief
strong language . |
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Review:
 There's
a tale in the Midrash that before God created the heavens and the
earth, he created the Hebrew alphabet. For thousands of years,
among both Jew and Gentile, the letters have been held to be
receptacles of kind of magic.
Saul Naumann(Richard Gere) knows this all too well. A college
professor in theology, he's been studying and teaching the Kabbala
for years. He lives in Oakland with his biologist wife
Miriam(Juliette Binoche), daughter Eliza(Flora Cross) and her
older brother Aaron(Max Minghella). At first, they seem happy
enough, each are overachievers to some extent and they're full of
love….but then something happens.
Eliza wins a spelling bee. The school then enters her in the San
Francisco area bee, but Saul didn't see the envelope among his
many papers, so, she asks Aaron to take her. She wins that, too,
and they go and tell Saul, who of course is thrilled. However,
Aaron, who was the favorite, has lost some status, and he begins a
search for God. Mom has been searching or God too, but in her own
way.
Meanwhile, after some interrogation, Saul comes to believe that
Eliza has the gift to become a master cabbalist at the tender age
of eleven. This drives her brother away and maybe drives her
mother mad. It's an extremely strange movie, which is highlighted
with really good performances and some spectacular computer
animation. The words fly off the page, so to speak, in more ways
than one. It's very bizarre, and perhaps even worth the money for
a ticket.
Eric Lurio
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