WonK
January 2, 2006, 2:30pm
1
Images from Luc Besson’s next film, Angel-A , billed as a romantic comedy.
The guy is like, Tolous (sp?) Latrec, and she looks hard as nails: I’m thinking, “Leon: the Professional”, in reverse. Anyone hear anything, one way or the other?
WonK
January 8, 2006, 11:34pm
2
A review:
Angel-A (France) Produced, directed, written by Luc Besson.
Andre - Jamel Debbouze
By LISA NESSELSON
… in exquisite black-and-white, “Angel-A” is a fable about self-acceptance set in a ravishingly lensed, hauntingly vacant Paris. … an achingly sincere but protracted effort to trade mostly action for mostly dialogue. … Debbouze (“Amelie”“Amelie”) plays Andre, a 28-year-old downtrodden pipsqueak who owes tens of thousands of dollars to cruel creditors all over town… Poised on one of the city’s most photogenic bridges determined to end it all, Andre notices another would-be suicide: an impossibly statuesque blonde in a little – really little – black dress. She leaps into the Seine and Andre instinctively jumps in to rescue her. … The leggy looker, Angela (Rie Rasmussen), is two heads taller than Andre. When he berates her for trying to deprive the world of so much youth and beauty, she assures him she’s rotten and ugly inside-- and that’s what counts. That kernel of wisdom sums up pic’s worthy – if repetitive – thesis.
Reassured by Andre, Angela pledges to stay by his side. With her aggressive lead, they tackle his problems… Rasmussen and Debbouze are perfectly cast, but their characters just aren’t all that interesting. They talk a lot, with Angela always voicing her eagerness to get to whatever’s next on the agenda. Still, compared with most of the films Besson has written, directed or produced, pace is positively Zen-like, with calm cutting to match… Shooting… mostly at the crack of dawn – Besson and ace DP Thierry Arbogast (in their fifth collaboration) manage to make Paris look completely depopulated. Shimmering in the early morning light, it’s a city whose streets and bridges exist only for Andre and Angela – and for our aesthetic pleasure… Selective use of violence in the service of a higher cause, which is part and parcel of Besson’s universe, is made unabashedly tender here. Score by Anja Gabarek is a plus.
Running time: 90 MIN.
With: Akim Chir, Olivier Claverie, Solange Milhaud, Franck Olivier Bonnet, Michel Chesneau.
From http://www.variety.com/
