The Brand New Testament has boundless energy and imagination, and its charming concept makes enduring some of the film's more random, unstructured ideas worthwhile.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 22, 2022

Though the movie is absolutely bonkers and ridiculously silly, it has heart and just enough insight into the human condition to resonate...

| Aug 14, 2019

Weird, wonderful, and with plenty of soul, The Brand New Testament shows that a simple idea - and a little chutzpah - can go a very long way.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 18, 2019

The best way to talk about religion in film is with the tongue firmly planted in cheek. The Belgian film THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT is just that, but with flares of magic.

| Original Score: B+ | Dec 12, 2018

It takes a wildly clever setup and fails utterly to deliver on its own premise; and does so in a visual language lifted wholesale from other, better films.

| Aug 11, 2018

This saccharine religious comedy from Belgium's Jaco Van Dormael fails to live up to its initial promise.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 3, 2018

... quite different from everything that tends to be released commercially... [Full review in Spanish]

| Jan 19, 2018

Women are the heroes that can save humankind.

| Original Score: B | Nov 12, 2017

The Brand New Testament may be seen as slightly irreverent, but only in a good way.

| Jun 21, 2017

While The Brand New Testament relies too heavily on surface level satire for my liking, its broad strokes are so cheekily amusing that the film is easy to recommend.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 1, 2017

Even the devout, surely, will warm to Dormael's alt-gospel: one of compassion, oddball fish gags and cheerier skylines.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2016

Has a profoundly whimsical sense of poetic justice told in bright colors, sincere performances, and bracing social satire.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 29, 2016

Consistently playful, often delightful and frequently funny.

| Dec 27, 2016

An irreverent but otherwise harmless ontological satire that puts a cartoonish spin on the Christian origin story.

| Dec 27, 2016

Irresistibly laugh-out-loud and feel-good.

| Dec 27, 2016

It's just as silly as it sounds, but it's also a joyous celebration of heresy from a country that deserves a good laugh.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 27, 2016

The Brand New Testament is extra-whimsical yet hard as nails when we get down to the rough stuff, like mortality, love, and sadness. What better choice for a holiday matinee at the movies?

| Dec 27, 2016

A lighthearted/darkhearted romp through modern misery, frontloaded with imagination and light on the finish.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 15, 2016

Some movies are worth a look just to see Catherine Deneuve romance a gorilla.

| Original Score: B+ | Dec 15, 2016

The Brand New Testament may well be the purest fantasy film of the year. It's certainly one of the most satisfying.

| Dec 15, 2016