Easter is generally shortchanged when it comes to cinematic depiction.
I mean, Christmas? Forget about it, you may not have enough time in the month of December to screen all the worthwhile yuletide pictures out there.
And Halloween? Plenty of fearsome fodder to fill your dark nights then, too.
Valentine’s Day is the high holiday of the romcom sect.
Heck, even Thanksgiving has a few classics to fall back on (I’m looking at you, “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”).
But Easter? Not so much.
There are a few, sure. But nothing iconic hops to mind.
Perhaps it’s because Easter straddles that line between religious observation and commercial celebration more strictly than those other holidays. And yet, it’s kind of a big deal.
According to The Guardian, about 60 million people on average give out at least one Easter card. In fact, it’s arguably the holiest day of the year for Christians.
And yet, there’s a serious lack of seriously good Easter movies.
A bit of quality kiddie fare (“Here Comes Peter Cottontail” (1971) and “Will Vinton’s Claymation Easter” (1992) being my own most fondly remembered of the bunch) and the obvious Bible-themed big names (“The Ten Commandments” (1956), “The Passion of the Christ” (2004), etc.) are good potentials, but a lot of that stuff tends to be saccharine or overly melodramatic.
Here then are my picks for five movies to consider screening this Easter, when the feast has been scarfed and the location of every festooned egg has been ascertained, whether you’re seriously celebrating or just having a restful springtime Sunday.
1 “Keeping the Faith” (2000)
A fun, unfairly dismissed flick (and the directorial debut of star Edward Norton) with enough romance and fun for general audiences and enough religiosity to keep it appropriate for the occasion.
Two friends, a priest (Norton) and a rabbi (Ben Stiller), fall in love with the same woman (Jenna Elfman), who they’ve both known since childhood. Also, the religious positions and unique occupational demands of both men complicates matters even further.
According to Rotten Tomatoes: “A dramedy featuring an unusual love triangle, ‘Keeping the Faith’ is a perceptive look at how religion affects us in everyday life.”
Keep an eye out for Eli Wallach, and an ear open for the musical score. It was done by Elmer Bernstein (“The Great Escape,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Ghostbusters”), and was his last.
2 “You’ve Got Mail” (1998)
OK, so it’s technically got nothing to do with Easter and the technology depiction has not aged well. However, I challenge you to find a more picturesque scene of love in springtime than the famous finale of this romantic masterpiece.
Inspired by the play “Parfumerie” by Miklós László, the film marked the third pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, one of the all-time great silver screen romantic duos, who had previously appeared together in “Joe Versus the Volcano” (1990) and “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993).
The stellar supporting cast makes the movie worth a rewatch alone: Parker “Makes coffee nervous” Posey, Jean “I bought Intel at six” Stapleton, Greg “Loves his typewriter” Kinnear, Steve “Going to the nut shop” Zahn, and Dave “She’s gonna be a real dog” Chappelle, to name but a few.
3 “Donnie Darko” (2001)
Is this cinema’s most iconic live-action rabbit?
I think so, as Harvey’s notoriously camera shy.
Frank, otherwise known as “That super creepy guy in a bunny suit that follows 21-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal around,” has become something of a cult figure, much like this wonderfully strange little movie.
Shot in just 28 days, the movie follows the misadventures of the troubled titular character (Gyllenhaal) as he seeks to understand his doomsday-related visions after narrowly escaping being killed by a mysterious jet engine that crashes into his bedroom.
It was reportedly almost released straight-to-video after being screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2001, before eventually receiving a limited theatrical release in October. However, in the wake of Sept. 11, due to the trailer’s depiction of a crashing plane, the film was scarcely advertised and thus did poorly in theaters.
Quality, though, eventually won out.
It was listed as No. 2 on Empire’s “50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time” list, as well as No. 63 on Empire’s “500 Greatest Movies of All Time” list, and today has a large, vocal cult of fans. There was even a sequel, “S. Darko” (2009).
In addition to a great cast and a few genuinely unsettling scenes, the special effects hold up pretty well and the soundtrack itself is noteworthy for its cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews, which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for three consecutive weeks and, in the United States, reached No. 30 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
4 “Sister Act” (1992)
Another fun flick that combines sanctity and silliness in an earnest, feel-good combo that’s hard to resist.
Say what you will about this plucky early ’90s comedy (of course the plot is ridiculous; that’s the point) it was a big time success. It was one of the most financially successful comedies of the decade, was rated No. 83 on Bravo’s “The 100 Funniest Movies” list, spawned one sequel and a musical adaptation and (you guessed it) there’s reportedly a remake in the works.
Whoopi Goldberg stars as a Reno lounge singer who has been put under protective police custody in a San Francisco convent and has to pretend to be a nun, after her she witnesses her mob boss boyfriend (Harvey Keitel) whack a guy and he makes her next on his hit list.
Also in the cast are Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena and Mary Wickes.
Fun fact: Along the path to production, the script was rewritten by reportedly a half dozen screenwriters — including the late, great Carrie Fisher.
5 “The Exorcist III” (1990)
The power of Christ compels you — to check out this surprisingly stellar, unfortunately under seen supernatural sequel to what is popularly considered the scariest movie of all time (no need to see part two; in fact, I recommend you skip it).
Based on the book by William Peter Blatty (who wrote the original and also the screenplay, who also wrote this screenplay and directs) and set 17 years after the first movie (and ignoring the events of part two), the film centers on a returning character from the first film, the philosophical Lieutenant William Kinderman (played perfectly by George C. Scott), who is investigating a baffling series of murders in Georgetown that appear to have a satanic motive and all the hallmarks of “The Gemini,” a deceased serial killer.
His sleuthing eventually leads him to an asylum to question a mysterious patient (played in a brilliant shared performance by Jason Miller and the incomparable Brad Dourif) who may somehow be the thought-executed killer — or who may be the priest who saved Regan MacNeil before jumping to his death on those creepy iconic stairs so many years ago.
The movie is full of incredible performances and stylistic camera work, and is really more a supernatural detective story than the hokey cash grab the “Part III” part of the title suggests.
Fun fact: Notorious American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer reportedly said that he was in the habit of watching this movie before hunting and killing his victims because it put him “in the mood.”
