Review of Wings of Desire (1987) by Adrian B — 27 Jun 2011

"Wings of Desire" follows several angels around the city of Berlin, Germany. They go to primarily three places (among others): the library, the circus, and a movie set, with Peter Falk. There are continually going inside the minds of people who feel that there lives are miserable. One of the angels becomes interested in a French acrobat and becomes obsessed with her, following her whereever she goes. This is an interesting film in the sense that it is filmed in both black and white. It is almost like watching two films at once. As well, the mind reading is quite neat (it almost feels at times like an Ingmar Bergman film). One flaw, though, is the length. It is a bit too slow at times, and could have been cut. It is also like too talky. Despite those technicalities, it is still rather good film to watch.

Note: at the end of the film there is a dedication in the credits to Yosujiro, Francois, and Andrei. These are Yosujiro Ozu (Floating Weeds and Tokyo Story); Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim); and Andrei Tarkovsky (to whom I know no films of yet).