Angel-A.

"To the chagrin of French critics and cinephiles, the scale of [Luc Besson's] success has reoriented French filmmaking away from the literary-intellectual tradition for which it is famed," writes Jaime Wolf in the New York Times. "Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie, a sentimental crowd pleaser that straddled Hollywood and French romantic comedy conventions, would be unthinkable without Mr Besson; so too the slick, explosive big-budget genre films like The Crimson Rivers and Brotherhood of the Wolf that have played around the world."

Updated through 5/27.

And, with Angel-A, he "returns to Paris with a little movie that begins as playful comedy about a crook who meets a beautiful woman — and ends as dreadfully dumbed-down remake of Wings of Desire," writes Jürgen Fauth.

Nick Schager at Slant sees it as "a modern riff on It's a Wonderful Life in which the filmmaker's trademark hyper-spasmodic action is set aside in favor of endless, static meet-cute talkativeness."

"It has a Capraesque valedictory glow and an insistently pure simplicity, but it's also broad and belabored in the distinctive manner of an imported buddy movie," writes Nicolas Rapold for the L Magazine.

In the New York Press, Armond White sets up a litmus test: "Paprika's vibrant visual style might seem novel but its content is far less daring than Luc Besson's traditionally photographed, live-action movie Angel-A. (Both films open this week. Whichever proves most popular will indicate if our film culture is ready to grow up.)" Ready, set, go!

"Even at 90 minutes, Angel-A is an endless quagmire of redemptive stupidity," writes Vadim Rizov at the Reeler. "Like a literalized adaptation of the Depeche Mode chestnut 'Personal Jesus,' Angel-A invites us not just to reach out and touch faith, but to ogle its ass a little as well."

Updates, 5/25: "Angel-A isn't as nutso as some of Besson's other pictures: It doesn't have the crazy inventiveness of, say, The Fifth Element," writes Salon's Stephanie Zacharek. "As I watched it, I found myself wishing it were just a little loopier. But the picture is still seductive and pleasing, partly because Besson and his cinematographer, Thierry Arbogast (the genius director of photography behind Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale), have made Paris look like the kind of city you could visit only in your dreams."

"Rie Rasmussen and Jamel Debbouze, the stars who portray Angela, the celestial therapist, and André, her star patient, display enough screwball romantic charm to keep this sugary trifle afloat longer than you'd expect," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times.

"The comically mismatched duo share some borderline metaphysical conversation that leans more toward Dr Phil than Descartes and meander through a gorgeously shot, depopulated Paris (it's nearly as empty as London in 28 Days Later) with Angela teaching André the power of looking in the mirror and saying, 'Je t'aime,'" writes Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times.

The AV Club's Nathan Rabin: "There's ample opportunity for dark comedy in a film about a gorgeous guardian angel with a mouth like a sailor, fists of fury, and the badass attitude of a sneering punk-rocker, but Besson inexplicably goes for soft-headed romance."

Bilge Ebiri's verdict for Nerve: "[T]wo-thirds of a great Luc Besson movie and one-third of what is, at best, merely a Luc Besson movie."

"The film's unsuppressed eccentricity does allow for a few nips of pleasure," writes Nick Pinkerton at indieWIRE, "But by any measure, it's a wreck of a movie."

Todd at Twitch: "Catfight! Besson and Weinstein Doing Their Best To Claw Each Other's Eyes Out!"

Update, 5/27: Mark Olsen talks with Besson for the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by dwhudson at May 24, 2007 5:49 AM