DVD-Review: Angel-A

Film:  Angel-A

Starring:  Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen, Gilbert Melki, Serge Riaboukine

Director:  Luc Besson
 
Screenwriter:  Luc Besson

French with English Subtitles

Luc Besson is one of those filmmakers who can really surprise you.  Some of his films are truly amazing, while others feel a little flat.  One thing's for certain, he always experiments with this work and never restricts himself.  Angel-A is one of those films.

Angel-A is a fairly recent film (2005) shot entirely in black and white, giving it a 1940's film noir appeal to it.

The film is about a man whose at the end of his rope and in debt to the mob when out of the blue a woman enters his life and changes it.  And we soon learn why.  As the title suggests, she's an angel, but it's not as easy as all that as the movie reveals.

Jamel Debbouze is terrific as the troubled André.  I found his first scene amusing, because as he's trying to buy himself from time to acquire the money he needs to pay back his debt, he tells his "creditors" that he's originally from New York.  What makes this interesting is not the fact that I'm watching a French language film about a man from New York, but the fact that the details aren't missed in the scene.  He speaks slowly and carefully either as one trying to find the right words to say, or - better yet - as an American still finding his tongue in the French language.  I was really amused by that scene.

Another amusing thing is the casting of Rie Rasmussen as Angel-A.  She's excellent, but I found myself reminded somewhat of Milla Jovovich's character in that other Luc Besson film The Fifth Element, or Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner.  Tall and leggy, Angel-A is dressed in a black leather micro-mini and is sporting a sexy, platinum blond, bob haircut.  As expected she enamors all the men she encounters, and yet, she's smart and sassy to boot.  She's definitely a woman of the 21st Century... at least on film.

Both main characters are lively, multi-dimensional and fun to watch.  Sometimes one has to question why an angel would do the things Angel-A does, but as the film unfolds the answers become crystal clear and sometimes what you think you see or hear, isn't exactly what's really happening.

I highly recommend this movie.  It's one of Besson's best of the ones I've seen so far.

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