Comment by Magic Marmalade:
I'd always avoided this believing it was an over-wrought, schmaltzy, sugary-sentimental, overly earnest affair, leaning a little too heavily into the whole Hallmark card angels business...
...And to some extent, it is, but not schmalzy or over sugared. Certainly, they don't beat you over the head with the emotional manipulation I expected in true Hollywood style, but to such an extent that they may have gone a little too far away from any sentiment, so that it felt a tad... sterile, emotionally for me.
What they have done with this romantic fantasy tale of an angel who falls in love with a doctor, and wants to become human for her sake (plot taken care of!) is actually opted, wisely, and to my great delight and surprise, for a more sparse, almost minimalist tone, where everything is very lightly handled and done, from the photography, acting, story and dialogue. This gives the whole feel of the movie a more haunting, ethereal tone, so as not to damage it's poignancy.
...But, as I said, I think it goes a little too far in this direction, making it feel a little thin, and fragile, and as with the footprints in the sand as the angels walk on the beach at sunset, it barely leaves any emotional impression... at least on first viewing.
It could have done with, let's say, more emotional
punctuation - The odd scene where they did amp it up a little more, just to sell the rest of the story a bit more, rather than, therefore, emotional monotone through out. Of course, it does kind of elevate it a little towards the end, and may have suggested a tear or two (but only to my right eye! :), but I feel it needed a little more of something in there.
Finally, I must take issue with the key scene in the finale, which, rather than deliver the emotional punch it was aiming for, was poorly staged, weakly, and meekly acted, and was inclining slightly toward the curling of the toes (but only on my left foot!).
All told, this does have the feel of a movie that needs more than one viewing, as many who have seen it the once, will likely hold the same opinion as me, but, I suspect, will grow on you, or into you the more you see it... Eventually to become one that is held with great affection. So I'm going to keep this one about the place for a while, then watch it again sometime, to see if it's worked on me in the meantime.
(I am certainly inspired, on the strength of this, to seek out the movie it was based on: Wings of Desire - a German film, I believe)
