THE SON OF JOSEPH *

The poster shows a woman sitting on a donkey being lead by a man and, in this instance, a boy and with a title like "The Son of Joseph" and characters called Marie and Joseph you might be forgiven for thinking Eugene Green's film is a modern take on the Christ story, (the chapter headings also allude to the Bible). However, the link is a tenuous one at best as young Vincent goes in search of his biological father. With all the characters speaking as if to the beat of a metronome and behaving a little like robots it often feels like a comedy minus the jokes, a parody of French art-house cinema which it may well be since its director is actually American though long domicile in France. Of course, you could take it seriously as some sort of religious allegory, (the clues aren't just all there but very much in your face), ot just enjoy it as some kind of piss-take or just abandon it altogether since, to be honest, it's not all that lively. The choice, as they say, is yours.