Product Description: From the director of The Professional and The Fifth Element comes a stunning, sexy tribute to the healing power of love. When André, a down-on-his-luck gambler, dives into the icy Seine to end it all, he winds up instead rescuing Angela, a gorgeous, mysterious blonde. Filled with renewed passion for life, they set out to settle André's scores as they wander the City of Lights. Along the way, André finds himself, but he still has some questions about his leggy, lovely companion -can she really be as heavenly as she seems? Filled with wit, warmth and eye-popping visuals, Angel-A shows just how high you can soar when passion takes flight.
Amazon.com: It's a Wonderful Life meets Wings of Desire in French director Luc Besson's Angel-A, a surprisingly charming fable of low-life redemption. The low-life in question is André (Jamel Debbouze, from Amelie), a mousy, disheveled Parisian scam artist who's deeply in debt to various underworld thugs. Suicide seems like the best available option, but just as he's about to leap into the Seine, he encounters Angela (Danish model/actress/filmmaker Rie Rasmussen), a leggy blonde beauty who's going to change André's life in ways he never expected. Filmed in gorgeous black and white in a shimmering Paris that seems almost completely depopulated (most of the filming took place in early-morning sunlight), Angel-A is a rough-edged yet ultimately sweet-natured tale of two chatty characters who find new hope through mutual devotion, and that's likely to disappoint any Besson fans who are expecting another high-octane crime thriller like Leon--The Professional. And yet, Besson's tenth film has a light, feathery quality that works in its favor, even when the characters lack interest and their scenes together grow slightly redundant. Debbouze is perfectly cast as a likable loser who deserves a break, and Rasmussen (who memorably appeared in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale, wearing nothing but lavish diamonds and a killer smile) is, to say the least, angelically seductive. How well you respond to this romantic fantasy will depend on how attracted you are to these characters, but if you give Angel-A a chance, you might find it to be a worthy companion to Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, two other appealing films about love in the City of Lights. --Jeff Shannon
Awesome Movie!! One of a few movies that can get me to cry, this is a profoundly moving experience. The actors lay themselves bare to the script and I was riveted. This story moved me, and if you are going through a difficult experience I would definitely recommend this movie to you.
special This a profound film - simple and at times painfully sad. Addresses the humanity's predicament: everyone surreptitiously thinks themselves as great while human minds are in fact petty, opportunistic, dis-empowered gambling machines. Andre is the Everyman.
Besson makes a case for truth, love - and breathing - as instruments of divine providence. Truth and love can evoke passion for the divine, for life itself.
A cool movie.
Luc Besson creates a magical movie I found this gem when searching for Luc Besson's "The Big Blue" which is unfortunately out of print. Great shots of Paris with a quite different cast of characters leading us throuh love, faith, restoration, and redemption. Intesresting engaging plot with Super cinematography. A keeper.
Angel-A Is Worthwhile Interesting little film. Being a big fan of Luc Besson I had to check it out, as it was reportedly the last film that he'd direct. The opening premise is pretty standard fare, a petty criminal who is down on his luck and owes too much to various less than honorable gentleman, but where it starts to get interesting is where Angela comes into play. It becomes clearer as time passes that this is a modern twist on 'It's A Wonderful Life', except it's set in a gritty and violent milieu of Paris. Angela is sent to save Andre' from himself, which is a pretty tough mission considering he's a lying, cheating weasel who will do virtually anything to get out of making an honest living. God sees him as redeemable though, despite his trangressions, so it sends Angela to the rescue.
'Angel-A' is a fairly entertaining ride, the acting is competent, not a mindblowing story, but nevertheless there was a very sweet quality about it, something endearing about Angela and Andre's relationship. Their love might transcend her immortal coils and save such a wretched creature as him from ruin, and that's inspiring, touching.
Even though it may not be the most original movie out there, at least it strays mostly from the norm, and although it's a bit of a remake, it does its own thing decently, so for that I have to give it kudos. I like seeing things from a unique, new perspective, and it was mostly successful in that endeavor. For those who appreciate a genuine love story about redemption, check it out.
A Master Class On Every Level An EXQUISITE and deeply moving film and an absolute master class in black and white cinematography, all thanks to genius director Luc Besson and his right arm, cinematographer Thierry Arbogast. Toss in two delicately nuanced, courageous, sometimes funny and always heartbreaking performances by Jamel Debboule and Rie Rasmussen and you're left with something very, very distinctive.
The storyline of a statuesque, wise-cracking, slightly sluttish blonde angel with the longest legs and shortest dress on earth (or elsewhere) coming down to rescue a grimy, vaguely criminal street slug doesn't sound all that appealing I'll admit... worthy of a thousand cliches... but if one has ever felt lost as the world comes down on their shoulders, it works and it strikes deep. What a great script. What an intoxicating feast for the eyes and the soul.
Besson has an amazing gift for creating totally believable, riveting emotional impact in implausible scenarios, as witnessed by the scene in his masterpiece Leon (The Professional) when the young girl says goodbye to her mentor while escaping down a trash shute. In Angel A, the final scene on the bridge and below is even more raw and naked and lump-in-the-throat, but I won't spoil it for the reader. I'll just say that if you've ever choked up at saying goodbye to someone this scene will get under your skin.
And what a lusciously beautiful film to look at, almost every frame able to stand on its own as a piece of art. If there was ever a film that deserved the black and white treatment and burst forth with a rainbow of emotions as a result, this is it.
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