{"id":604,"date":"2008-10-12T08:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-12T08:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/10\/abel-ferraras-mary-comes-to-new-york\/"},"modified":"2008-10-12T08:01:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-12T08:01:00","slug":"abel-ferraras-mary-comes-to-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/10\/abel-ferraras-mary-comes-to-new-york.html","title":{"rendered":"Abel Ferrara’s Mary comes to New York."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Abel Ferrara\u2019s Mary<\/a><\/i> (2005), which tells the story of a movie star who is deeply affected by her performance of Mary Magdalene, played in European theatres a few years ago and has been available on DVD there for some time, too. But it has never been released in Ferrara\u2019s native New York \u2014 until now. The New York Times<\/a><\/i> has this to say, in a profile of the director that ran today:<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Ferrara\u2019s 15th feature, \u201cMary,\u201d which had its premiere at Venice<\/a> in 2005, is only now having a run in New York. (It opens on Friday at Anthology Film Archives<\/a>.) Like \u201cDangerous Game\u201d and \u201cThe Blackout,\u201d his 1997 drama about a bender-prone movie star, it revolves around a film within the film \u2014 in this case a biblical indie called \u201cThis Is My Blood.\u201d The leading lady (Juliette Binoche) is so shaken by playing Mary Magdalene that she decamps for Jerusalem. Back in New York a television talk show host (Forest Whitaker) finds himself struggling with his faith as he prepares to interview the Jesus movie\u2019s brash director and star (Matthew Modine, in a role that inevitably calls to mind Mel Gibson but also contains strong elements of the freewheeling Mr. Ferrara).<\/p>\n

\u201cMary\u201d is simply the most direct expression of spiritual crisis in a filmography riven with Catholic notions of guilt and redemption. \u201cI don\u2019t know how anyone with half a brain can make a movie that\u2019s not about those things,\u201d Mr. Ferrara said. \u201cThe Catholic thing is so ingrained in our upbringing. Where I come from you\u2019re not raised to think on your own. It\u2019s not that you\u2019re pushed to read the Bible. The Bible is read to you.\u201d But when he started working on \u201cMary\u201d \u2014 \u201cliving within three blocks of the Vatican,\u201d he noted \u2014 he revisited the Bible and this time approached it \u201cas a revolutionary tome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Modine, who first worked with Mr. Ferrara on \u201cThe Blackout,\u201d said via e-mail that he and Mr. Ferrara prepared by poring over ancient scripture. \u201cAbel and I tried to strip away the interpretations and poetic language,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like a more serious and angst-ridden \u201cDa Vinci Code<\/a>,\u201d the film draws on Gnostic texts that have offered alternate views of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity. (Several theologians, including Elaine Pagels, author of \u201cThe Gnostic Gospels,\u201d are enlisted as interview subjects on Mr. Whitaker\u2019s talk show.) With its sincerely ambivalent efforts to plumb the nature of belief, it\u2019s the rare movie that could stand as a rebuke to both \u201cThe Passion of the Christ<\/a>\u201d and \u201cReligulous<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Ferrara pointed out that \u201cMary\u201d won not just jury and critics prizes at Venice but also the ecumenical award sponsored by a Catholic communications organization \u2014 or, as he proudly overstated it, \u201cthe Vatican seal of approval.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So \u2026 any chance this film will play in any other<\/i> North American cities? Such as, oh, Vancouver? And are there any plans yet<\/i> to release this film on DVD over here?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abel Ferrara\u2019s Mary (2005), which tells the story of a movie star who is deeply affected by her performance of Mary Magdalene, played in European theatres a few years ago and has been available on DVD there for some time, too. But it has never been released in Ferrara\u2019s native New York \u2014 until now. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAbel Ferrara's Mary comes to New York.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Abel Ferrara's Mary (2005), which tells the story of a movie star who is deeply affected by her performance of Mary Magdalene, played in European theatres\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/10\/abel-ferraras-mary-comes-to-new-york.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abel Ferrara's Mary comes to New York.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abel Ferrara's Mary (2005), which tells the story of a movie star who is deeply affected by her performance of Mary Magdalene, played in European theatres\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/10\/abel-ferraras-mary-comes-to-new-york.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-12T08:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/SPISag-62VI\/AAAAAAAAB8U\/QfTEceVJpmQ\/s400\/mary-a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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