“Noah” Directed By Daren Aronofsky

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DAN WALKER ON FILM

Director:

Daren Aronofsky (“Pi”, “Requiem for a Dream”, “The Fountain”, “The Wrestler”, “Black Swan”)

Cast:

Russell Crowe (“L.A. Confidential”, Best Actor Oscar® for “Gladiator”, “A Beautiful Mind”)

Jennifer Connelly (“Once Upon a Time in America”, “Requiem for  a Dream”, Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for “A Beautiful Mind)

Anthony Hopkins (“The Elephant Man”, Best Actor Oscar® for “The Silence of the Lambs”, “Howard’s End”)

Logan Lerman (“The Patriot”, “3:10 to Yuma”, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”)

First of all, I want to mention that “Noah” addresses the following questions I’ve always had (but never bothered checking the source material for):

-What were the other people that were nearby doing when Noah was building the ark and when the flood hit? (Answer:  They were gathering around in the thousands plotting and preparing to kill Noah and take over the ark.)

-How could such a massive structure been built by Noah and his small family? (Answer:  They were helped by giant rock beings called The Watchers, fallen angels sent to earth who help Adam’s good descendants.  The Watchers also helped Noah deal with the guys in the first question.)

-If the world’s slate was wiped clean by getting rid of everyone during the flood, why do bad/evil people exist today? (Answer:  The slate could only be made completely clean if man’s lineage ended when Noah and his family died, which was supposed to happen with Noah’s youngest son’s death.  Basically, Noah didn’t follow his orders completely, a conflict he faces repeatedly.)

-How did Noah keep the carnivorous animals from eating other animals and also keep the animals that kill for the sake of killing from killing other animals?  How did Noah deal with the feeding of and waste from all the animals?  (Answer:  They were put to sleep once they boarded and they could only emerge from their hibernation with Noah’s help.)

I’m a big fan of Daran Aranofsky (who also co-wrote and co-produced), although I don’t like “The Fountain” as much as his other movies.   I don’t know if it’s because there is so much going on and it’s hard to follow or because of its romance-heavy storyline.  I will say “The Fountain” is ambitious and must have been a good challenge for Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, who each got to play three different characters because it’s basically three movies.

With his track record of movies that are identifiable as being Aronofsky films, why did he choose to make this one?  It’s the first feature he’s made that’s not based on an original story.  Because of the constraints of the storyline and its epic presentation, “Noah” doesn’t have many of his touches and could have been directed by a number of other people with a similar result (the same way “Good Will Hunting” bears no resemblance to any of Gus Van Sant’s previous movies).

I figured Aranofsky and his producers were pandering to the same audience that made Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” the shocking massive success it became.  I did read the headlines and bits of articles that said Paramount tested different versions of “Noah” with Christian audiences and it repeatedly elicited negative responses.  In watching it, it IS a good story so I can understand its appeal as a storytelling and directing challenge.  According to the film’s trivia section on Imdb, Aronofsky had been fascinated by the character of Noah since childhood.  That makes sense, since the story of Noah is probably the most child-friendly part in the Bible.  All kids and most adults like animals.

Because I knew of the pre and post-release “Noah” criticisms and its relatively low Rotten Tomatoes and Imdb ratings, I went in with minimal expectations and ended up actually enjoying it.  If anything, I expected to strongly dislike it and was braced for a tedious film going experience.

“Noah” incorporates more visual effects than all of Aronofsky’s other movies put together, which is understandable given the story.  I like the creation/evolution montage, which smartly combines the two schools of thought about how we and Earth got to where we are*.  I also like how the multitudes of birds, then reptiles and amphibians (right), then mammals migrate to and methodically board the ark.  I always assumed someone stood at the plank with a clipboard and checklist, like the velvet rope guy at Studio 54.  (Weren’t the rest of each species of animal curious about why a single pair left for no apparent reason?  You’d think some of them would have asked, “Hey, where are you guys going?”)  The Watchers (left) seem more suited to Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies than an Aranofsky film and their inclusion in the storyline, while helping to explain why things happened, seemed more about fantasy than history.  Don’t get me wrong; I like how they inject a necessary energy into the story.

Along with the visual effects, “Noah” has some beautiful photography.  One scene in particular depicts, very effectively in silhouette profile, generations of brutality as an example of the evil that deserves to be wiped out (right).  There are also scenes where stars are visible during daylight, making them appear much closer to Earth than they are now, which is a good concept for a biblical story.

The film reunites the leads from Ron Howard’s 2001 “A Beautiful Mind” in casting Russell Crowe as Noah and Jennifer Connelly (left, in an example of the film’s striking photography) as his wife Naameh.  Both are good in their roles and ditch their Australian and American accents respectively for British (or at least proper) ones.  Crowe effectively conveys how conflicted Noah was in doing what The Creator (who is never referred to as “God”) has instructed him to do.  When you think of Noah, you think of a benevolent soul who loved animals and wouldn’t hurt a fly.   You don’t think of him as someone who would kill anyone who got in the way of his mission, which is why Crowe was a good casting choice.  I can’t think of another actor that is a better combination of acting ability and the ability to dole out convincing beatings and killings and at the same time come across as compassionate.

Anthony Hopkins (right, with Leo McHugh Carroll, who plays Noah’s youngest child, Japheth), who now corners the market on wise old white sages in movies (Morgan Freeman is his black equivalent), plays the oldest guy who ever lived and Noah’s paternal grandfather and consigliere, 969-year-old Methuselah.  Considering how minimal, constricting, and one-dimensional everyone’s character is, the rest of the cast do well with what they’re given.  Ray Winstone gets the second-best role in playing Tubla-cain (a descendant of THAT Cain), the film’s requisite villain, who is determined to take over the ark so he can control all of mankind once the flood subsides.  You can’t fault him for a lack of ambition and focus.  Mark Margolis, who most people probably know as the guy who kills F. Murray Abraham’s character in the helicopter in “Scarface” and from his role in Breaking Bad, continues his streak of being cast in every Aronofsky feature.**  In “Noah” he appears as Nagog, the leader of the Watchers.***

Again, because I had such minimal expectations, I liked “Noah”, although I could easily replace “liked” with “was never bored with” in that sentence and still be accurate.  I wasn’t looking for Biblical accuracy or historical truth.  Your expectations will impact the way you perceive “Noah.”   I wanted to ask the two nuns that attended the same showing about their opinion but I didn’t want to sit through the credits and wait for them.

In saying all that, this is easily the least I’ve gotten out of a Daren Aranofsky movie and unlike his other movies, it’s unlikely ever I’ll watch it again.

DPW

April 29, 2014

*I have an appreciation for this particular aspect of “Noah” because I’ve been watching the 13-episode miniseries “Cosmos:  A Space-Time Odyssey”, hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (Google him), and co-produced by Family Guy’s creator, Seth McFarlane.  The series covers a number of sciences, including biology (with a heavy emphasis on evolution), physics, and astrophysics.  The series is a follow-up to the 1980’s Carl Sagan/PBS series “Cosmos:  A Personal Journey”, with updated information and extensively uses CGI technology, both realistic and animation, to support what’s being explained.  I wish this series was around when I was in school.  It makes the subject matter digestible and understandable.  In showing how minuscule Earth is relative to the cosmos and explaining how miraculous and amazing everything is, “Cosmos” really puts things into perspective.

**Mark Margolis (right) is showcased as a jaded and patronizing art critic in Bob Giraldi’s sadly underappreciated 2001 film, “Dinner Rush”, which also features Danny Aiello.  It was in and out of theatres before anyone knew it.

***In Googling the character, Nagog is based on Semyaza, one of the fallen angels (or Grigori, which means “Watchers” in Greek).  In the Bible, Nagog is the name of a grandson of Noah.  Similarly, Noah’s wife’s name in not mentioned in the Bible.

This has nothing to do with Noah or anything else I cover in this review, but does anyone else think John Boehner is the best successor to Fred Thompson as an active politician that plays authority figures in movies?  He already has the tan.

Added May 5, 2014:

Here’s an article about a book that implies we’re ready for another Noah-type flood, a concept that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05/02/are-the-end-times-upon-us-author-says-unrestrained-immorality-mirrors-pandemic-godlessness-seen-in-the-bible/

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