Angel-a
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Tue 5 September 2006 // 20:00
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Wed 6 September 2006 // 20:00
Thu 7 September 2006 // 20:00
Angel-A
Dir: Luc Besson
(2006 / £4/3 [£2TTT & BabyCinema] / France / 90 mins / Cert: 15)
Having spent some time frittering away his talents on writing and producing a few deeply silly action movies, Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element) returns to the director's chair for this peculiar tale of a very short small-time crook (Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Jamel Debbouze) and the very tall mystery blonde who tries to turn his life around when he saves her from plunging into the Seine. The funkily-monikered Thierry Arbogast's gorgeous black and white cinematography harks back to the days of the Nouvelle Vague, but, like Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, this is a very modern noir look: black and white, not shades of grey. Which rather suits the plot, given the constant ingratitude of Debbouze's Andre to his angelic protector.
Attentive film fans will quickly spot the similarities to The Fifth Element (Besson, let's face it, is a big fan of the beautiful woman/unworthy man motif), but while that film descended into sci-fi chaos (not that that's a bad thing), Angel-A keeps a tighter hold on its themes of alienation and inner beauty.
Dir: Luc Besson
(2006 / £4/3 [£2TTT & BabyCinema] / France / 90 mins / Cert: 15)
Having spent some time frittering away his talents on writing and producing a few deeply silly action movies, Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element) returns to the director's chair for this peculiar tale of a very short small-time crook (Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Jamel Debbouze) and the very tall mystery blonde who tries to turn his life around when he saves her from plunging into the Seine. The funkily-monikered Thierry Arbogast's gorgeous black and white cinematography harks back to the days of the Nouvelle Vague, but, like Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, this is a very modern noir look: black and white, not shades of grey. Which rather suits the plot, given the constant ingratitude of Debbouze's Andre to his angelic protector.
Attentive film fans will quickly spot the similarities to The Fifth Element (Besson, let's face it, is a big fan of the beautiful woman/unworthy man motif), but while that film descended into sci-fi chaos (not that that's a bad thing), Angel-A keeps a tighter hold on its themes of alienation and inner beauty.