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Reviews
Angel (2007)
Baaaaad film -- where's the twist?
I went to see "Angel" only because I'm a fan of Francois Ozon's films, which are often weird, quirky, with plot twists.
But alas, I had to sit through 2 hours of pure, corny melodrama, so corny that you wonder whether it isn't a joke! But then, it continues, and you realize that the bad acting, the bad sets, and stereotypical, predictable storyline are serious!! No twists, no making fun, just straight drivel.
Why an intelligent film-maker like Ozon would make such a bad, bland, boring film is beyond me.
Romola Garai's acting style is horribly overdone. She was a lot better in Scoop. In Angel, she repeatedly gazes out into the proverbial distance, flings herself on beds when upset, and generally acts so insolent you want to slap her (not for her character's being insolent, but for bad acting).
Fassbender's acting is only slightly better, but he is obviously constrained by the painfully predictable melodramatic storyline.
Sam Neill and Charlotte Rampling shine by their understated, correctly-dosed performances. But then you wonder why their talent is being wasted in such a film !
Their performance and the costumes worn by Angel are really the only interesting things in the film....
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
TLJ's gift of redemption -SPOILERS
Excellent, complex, human film. Stunning cinematography. Brilliant acting, especially the minor roles (Melissa Leo, Dwight Yoakam).
The only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because of too many *karmic* coincidences in the plot (Lou Ann's meeting Melchiades, or, the Mexican healer crossing paths with Mike again...etc...)
The only plot point I did not understand was why Belmont does not shoot them when he has them in his line of fire?
RE the comments about the confusing denouement, I think that it was left ambiguous on purpose. The ruins are obviously much more than 5 years old.... Arriaga's real message seems to be one of redemption. TLJ's character brings redemption (unknowingly?) to Pepper's character, who would have otherwise felt remorse for the rest of his life.... The scene at the end after the apology where we see Pepper sleeping peacefully for the first time in a long time seems to evoke this. The ending would have been far too simplistic had they found the town, the grieving widow, the children etc, and for Pepper to have made his apology concretely to them. Instead, the apology was much more poignant and difficult in an abstract setting before an abstract family. It is then that the story stops being about Melchiades being buried in the right place, and becomes rather one of Mike's journey through suffering, stubbornness and confusion, to an enlightenment of sorts.
As a Texas native, I have heard stories of abuse, cruelty, and unreported killings on the part of *some* (not all) US border patrol officers, as recounted by Mexican immigrants to me. It is a problem which is seldom talked about in the media. Thanks to Tommy Lee Jones, the issue will hopefully get some much-needed media attention now. Many people in France, for example, had no idea about this brutality. By telling a story about friendship and redemption, the film evokes the problem without being too preachy. Great flick.