The celebrated Hal Hartley is the only American director who contributed to the 2000 Seen By... series. His The Book of Life gives a playful, irreverent and unorthodox account of the second coming of Jesus. This time around the Messiah is depicted as a slick young busi­nessman returning to the Earthly realm to kick start the Apocalypse.

An inexplicable feeling of doom hangs over the Big Apple as the millennial New Year's Eve looms. An anonymous gambler sits in a bar chatting with a wait­ress, who has a crush on him, and a bum {Henry Fool's Thomas Jay Ryan). This unassuming pan handler is in actuality Satan... undercover.

Meanwhile, Jesus (Hartley regular Martin Donovan) and his sexy personal assistant, Magdalena (rocker PJ Harvey), touch down at JFK Airport. Sent by the wrathful Father component of the Holy Trinity to loose the mystical seven seals on The Book of Life, Jesus is having misgivings about ending all existence. In our digital age The Book of Life is now a computer disc housed in a bowling alley locker, and Jesus is look­ing to roll the final strike.

The parallel action in the bar is an ongoing round of pseudo-philosophising and a poor man's Faustian pact which eventually dovetails into Jesus and Magdalena's mission when all the characters meet up in a hotel room.