April 9–16, 1998

movie shorts

City of Angels

recommended

Nicolas Cage is the ideal choice for this role, which revisits the one played by Bruno Ganz in Wim Wenders' densely evocative Wings of Desire. Like Ganz, Cage has eyes that convey deep and soulful sadness; unlike Ganz, he has an engaging physical elasticity, so that his contortions as an angel who falls in love with a human woman become almost outrageously expressive. Cage is an extraordinary performer, capable of uncanny poise and sensual humor. The object of his affections is Meg Ryan. That she plays a heart surgeon is a weighty metaphor, but it effectively underlines her faith in science and bodies. Directed by Brad Silberling, written by Dana Stevens and beautifully shot by John Seale, the film is thick with resonant imagery. The angels wear long black styley overcoats, hang out in the L.A. public library, listening to the murmurs of patrons' thoughts (a specific reference to Wenders), sit atop the Hollywood sign or high rise construction sites, and begin each day at the beach, where they hear a heavenly chorus accompanying the light. Dennis Franz plays an earthy fallen angel and Cage's advisor (Peter Falk's part in Wings), and Andre Braugher is severely underused as Cage's best angel-friend.

-Cindy Fuchs