The Ten

In preparing to watch The Ten, I was bracing myself for something that might be daringly irreverent, like Dogma. creating tension within my previously-devout self and imagined tension with my currently-devout friends. The fact that I had actually seen the film before was of no help, as I remembered barely one-tenth of it.

The film comprises ten vignettes, each "inspired" by one of the biblical commandments. Each vignette is introduced by a narrator addressing the camera directly, while his own marriage unravels by degrees, in 60-second snippets.

Having more than a passing interest in religion, I looked forward to seeing how these connections might be made. In at least half of the stories, I could not see the connection at all, and in no case was the commandment integral to the story.

The stories are not sophisticated, and much of the humor is intensely sophomoric, often offensive even to our permissive sensibilities. But in parts it is quite clever, and some of the later stories intersect with earlier stories in surprising ways.

To the all-important question of whether the story makes good use of Our Noni's special talents, the answer is, not much. Most of her scenes could have been carried equally well by another (that is, lesser) actress. Her character was caught in several unusual situations, to be sure, but only one brought out the Noni we have come to expect: her infatuation with a ventriloquist's dummy was played right up to the edge.

Final verdict:

Three croquet balls.

Lagniappe

James wrote the review above, but Pamela has already written about this film for her "Library" Books blog, which predates our joint Compleat Noni project. Read that review to find the library connection.