Angel-A (Luc Besson, 2005)
- tavernier
- Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2005 7:18 pm
Angel-A (Luc Besson, 2005)
Apparently Armond White loves Besson.
- Antoine Doinel
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
- Location: Montreal, Quebec
- Contact:
Here's the trailer.
- lord_clyde
- Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2004 4:22 am
- Location: Ogden, UT
- godardslave
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:44 pm
- Location: Confusing and open ended = high art.
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- Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:43 am
- godardslave
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:44 pm
- Location: Confusing and open ended = high art.
- Antoine Doinel
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
- Location: Montreal, Quebec
- Contact:
- lord_clyde
- Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2004 4:22 am
- Location: Ogden, UT
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Angel-A (Luc Besson, 2005)
I can't believe we have a thread for this (though, tellingly, no posts were made in it after it was released), but then again, the forum was a different beast 15 years ago...
I thought this was laughably bad in its bald-faced wish fulfillment, and honestly, that wouldn't have bothered me if the film was capable of showing one single moment of chemistry between the toweringly tall platinum blonde angel and Jamel Debbouze. You'd think, in a Splash/Wings of Desire ripoff wherein one of the two has to invariably give up their entire way of life for the other, that there would be some kind of spark to drive that forward. It does not help matters much that we are told over and over that Debbouze is secretly sensitive, intelligent, a diamond in the rough etc but as far as I can tell and as far as we are shown, this is a well-guarded secret as he is a total moron for the entirety of the film and his so-called "love" for the titular savior looks a lot like clinging onto her because no one who looks remotely like her has ever given him any attention. I can understand the appeal of this to the losers in the audience, wanting this to happen to them-- many movies satisfy a viewer's desires in some way-- but I think the film flatters anyone who sees some aspect of themselves in this unpleasant "lucky" guy (Some variation of "Jeez, I'm bad but this guy completely sucks and she still fell for him," presumably). I did find it amusing how often a two shot of the central couple required Rie Rasmussen to literally crane her neck down into frame like a swan, though, so the movie had that going for it
I thought this was laughably bad in its bald-faced wish fulfillment, and honestly, that wouldn't have bothered me if the film was capable of showing one single moment of chemistry between the toweringly tall platinum blonde angel and Jamel Debbouze. You'd think, in a Splash/Wings of Desire ripoff wherein one of the two has to invariably give up their entire way of life for the other, that there would be some kind of spark to drive that forward. It does not help matters much that we are told over and over that Debbouze is secretly sensitive, intelligent, a diamond in the rough etc but as far as I can tell and as far as we are shown, this is a well-guarded secret as he is a total moron for the entirety of the film and his so-called "love" for the titular savior looks a lot like clinging onto her because no one who looks remotely like her has ever given him any attention. I can understand the appeal of this to the losers in the audience, wanting this to happen to them-- many movies satisfy a viewer's desires in some way-- but I think the film flatters anyone who sees some aspect of themselves in this unpleasant "lucky" guy (Some variation of "Jeez, I'm bad but this guy completely sucks and she still fell for him," presumably). I did find it amusing how often a two shot of the central couple required Rie Rasmussen to literally crane her neck down into frame like a swan, though, so the movie had that going for it
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- Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm
Re: Angel-A (Luc Besson, 2005)
I always thought this film was Besson trying to consciously make something in the Cinema du Look aesthetic that he was associated with at the start of his career, but it makes plainly obvious that he doesn’t have the vision or originality of Beineix or Carax