another angel movie for the holidays

So here it is. My heart on my sleeve. A movie I have watched over and over and am embarrassed to confess to. What makes The Family Man, a descendant of It's a Wonderful Life, so good in my opinion?

Firstly, I am a sucker for the

what if

scenario. Especially, the what if you had another chance to do your life over. You know, the Robert Frost road not taken. It's something I've wasted a lot of time on myself. I can dream can't I?

Then, there's the angel thing. In this case, played solidly by award-winning actor Don Cheadle. It's a small part, but as the saying goes, there are no small parts and Cheadle proves that. (As does Mary Beth Hurt as the secretary who totally steals every scene she's in with her snappy delivery and timing.) Cheadle plays a very interesting interpretation of the angel archetype.

Of course, we have the likeable Nicolas Cage as Jack and Tea Leoni as Kate in the leads, and Jeremy Pivan as the sidekick. All are wonderful in their roles. If you happen to be a Cage fan, the early scene with him getting dressed and singing opera is a must see. And child actress Makenzie Vega is almost too adorable.

It is a moralistic film, certainly. The message being, love and family win out over power and money, and these are mutually exclusive. Well maybe that isn't true in the real world. Maybe it is equally likely rich folks have will have rich family lives as it is middle class folks will. I wouldn't know. But I totally buy into the gooshy idea that love is worth whatever sacrifice it takes to obtain it and keep it. If you think I am a corny sentimental fool you are right. I wasn't always this way as my college friends can tell you. But life experience, to the contrary mind you, has made a romantic out of me.

I like the ending of this film. Without giving too much away, I'll tell you it isn't happy exactly, but it leaves the door open to the possibility of happiness and that as a viewer makes me happy.

One final note. I have to say, if Kate hadn't worn such an ugly coat to the airport in the very beginning, she might have won her plea, and the whole film would be unnecessary. But that coat was very easy to walk away from.

And speaking about angels...

I went through a period in my life when all I watched were foreign films. Maybe it was because it was the first time I moved away from the city I grew up in and I felt so foreign myself in the new place. I certainly don't feel that way now. But it was during this period I saw some of the most memorable films, films that were like poems, films of striking image and mood. And among these Wings of Desire directed by Wim Wenders is the zenith.

Wings of Desire is visually stunning. Angels high up, overlooking Berlin. The complex architecture of a library filled with people and the angels. The city of Berlin is as much a character as the two angels, Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander for whom the landscape of human life is chiaroscuro. The angels do not see color or smell or taste. They witness by listening and watching, so we in the audience are kind of voyeur angels too.

Solveig Dommartin and Peter Falk round out this profound cast. The performances are superb. Dommartin is spellbinding and Falk plays himself in that charming Columbo way. Without giving anything away, I'll tell you that Bruno Ganz's facial expressions are a marvel. There's also an elderly man, played by Curt Bois, who longs for peace and lends oral poetry to this visual poem of a film.

The music of Nick Cave enhances the hypnotic mood. And poets can't help but draw associations with Rilke from the overall feeling of the film.

In many ways, this angel movie is nothing like It's A Wonderful Life. It isn't a whimsical comedy romance. It's not so much a story of a set of characters as it is about the human story. But there is humor here and romance and plenty of human pathos. All in the back-drop of a post-Nazi Germany that can't help but be shadows in the corners of every frame. This is an exquisite, complex, painful, beautiful film.

I feel I need mention City of Angels, an American "remake"inspired by Wings of Desire. If you have seen City of Angels don't think there is no need to see "the original." These are two very different movies. There is a nice library shot in this one too. But the movie lacks history and scope. Though I have warm places in my heart for Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage who star, Dennis Franz is the highlight. City of Angels is a watchable movie for sure, but not magnificent.

Wings of Desire will always remain one of my all-time favorites.

Welcome to my movie addiction

I confess I have loved movies all of my life. I watch no less than five movies a week on TV or DVD. I go to see movies in theaters. I love getting absorbed into the story. I love the cinematography. I admire great performances that remind me of the beauty and complexity of the human animal. And I also love to laugh and be scared out of my wits and cry at sappy happy stuff.

My current favorite movies change all the time. There are movies I watch over and over in a short space of time and some I want to wait to see again to savor later.

Since it is the holiday season, I confess the first movie I ever fell in love with was It's A Wonderful Life. I would guess have seen this movie no less than a hundred times. It never gets old. What first tapped into my kid imagination was those angels chatting amidst the stars--not great special effects but magical nonetheless. I like to be reminded that one life touches so many others. It's easy for me to forget. And Jimmy Stewart is such an incredible actor. He's so fragile, so like any of us.