Last year, I foolishly missed out on an opportunity to attend a Q&A session with cult French film-maker Luc Besson at London’s National Film Theatre following a screening of his latest (and last?) directorial effort – the part live-action/part animated fantasy, ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES (2006). This is his film before that and, as a result of this viewing, I’ve now seen half of his filmography as a director. I keep stressing his status because, of late, his output as a writer and producer has been much more prolific and, perhaps necessarily, less significant.
In any case, ANGEL-A is fairly successful at what it sets out to be: a romantic noir-ish fantasy about a small-time Arabic crook stranded in Paris who, upon being persecuted (both verbally and physically) simultaneously by two of his bullying creditors, decides to take the easy way out by jumping to his death off a bridge. At this same instant, it seems, a stunning, long-legged blonde had reached the same conclusion too, but leaps ahead of the Arab who, naturally, is forced to dive in after her and retrieve her! Thus, is forged an uneasy but amusing alliance which sees the Arab enjoying new-found respect among his creditors (mainly through her own self-imposed “pimping” to the latter crowd).
ANGEL-A (in spite of being relatively brisk at 88 minutes) does get rather talky at times but the interaction between the two mismatched protagonists is never less than pleasant and, in fact, the central performances are the film’s very core. The belated revelation of the titular character’s true nature is not that much of a surprise or perhaps original enough to make this film particularly stand out within similarly-themed movies but, even so, Besson’s acknowledged visual flair (shot in luminous monochrome, no less) is its other most notable attribute.
In any case, ANGEL-A is fairly successful at what it sets out to be: a romantic noir-ish fantasy about a small-time Arabic crook stranded in Paris who, upon being persecuted (both verbally and physically) simultaneously by two of his bullying creditors, decides to take the easy way out by jumping to his death off a bridge. At this same instant, it seems, a stunning, long-legged blonde had reached the same conclusion too, but leaps ahead of the Arab who, naturally, is forced to dive in after her and retrieve her! Thus, is forged an uneasy but amusing alliance which sees the Arab enjoying new-found respect among his creditors (mainly through her own self-imposed “pimping” to the latter crowd).
ANGEL-A (in spite of being relatively brisk at 88 minutes) does get rather talky at times but the interaction between the two mismatched protagonists is never less than pleasant and, in fact, the central performances are the film’s very core. The belated revelation of the titular character’s true nature is not that much of a surprise or perhaps original enough to make this film particularly stand out within similarly-themed movies but, even so, Besson’s acknowledged visual flair (shot in luminous monochrome, no less) is its other most notable attribute.