Review of Angel-A (2005) by Nima A — 23 May 2008

Exceedingly poor but visually masterful. Besson's 'cinema du look' is expressed in beautiful black and white, which alternately reminds me of 'Wings of Desire' and 'La Haine', the latter if only because the protagonist is a down-and-out outsider who struggles against the descent into criminality.

Unfortunately, the film is combines sentimentality and nonsensicality in equal measure. The dialogue is terrible, the concept is woeful; having an angel come down to earth to show us our 'hidden beauty' is a horrendous cliche that doesn't become any better in Besson's hands. He offers cinema as a palliative for the travails of life - the wrong decisions we make, our moral and material deprivations, our lack of love. Love can triumph even over divine ontology apparently. Pity he can't express that in a movie worth watching.

In general Besson's work is a waste of time with the exception of 'Leon'.