ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes six films whose entire fabric consists of reimagining a Hebrew Bible text. It examines two cinematic retellings of the creation account in Genesis – Ex Machina and mother! –, three films that reimagine the book of Job – A Serious Man, The Tree of Life, and Leviathan –, and a film that reimagines Qoheleth/Ecclesiastes The Zero Theorem. The chapter analyzes the salient motifs of each film, focusing on how its reimagination of biblical texts invites reinterpretations and rereadings of those texts and films. Alex Garland’s Ex Machina reframes the second Genesis creation account in a science fiction tale about artificial intelligence. Darren Aronofsky followed Noah with mother!, which reimagines the Genesis creation account as horror. mother! condemns God and humanity for their wanton destruction of the earth. The Russian film Leviathan situates its Joban story in a small Russian town where injustice reigns over Nicolay.
