Angelic Conversation, The (1985)

reviewed by
William Tsun-Yuk Hsu

                              Lesser-Known Films
                      Reviews by hsu@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu
                    Copyright 1987 hsu@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu

Three short reviews:

BATTLE OF ALGIERS

Music by Ennio Morricone. This was supposed banned (somewhere) for many years. This early Algerian production is a gritty drama about the liberation of Algiers from the French. It's a fairly straightforward political thriller, and it's hard to tell why it was banned (perhaps for political reasons?). The only "objectionable" scenes are one or two depicting the torture of Algerian revolutionaries.

ANGELIC CONVERSATION

Directed by Derek Jarman, with music by Coil. At this stage (way before Caravaggio), Jarman seems to be more interested in the interplay of light, color and sound than in creating any type of narrative structure. His human figures move through abstract and (treated) real landscapes, but their movement is usually "clipped," as if seen through strobe lights. Some interesting light/color textures reminiscent of Brakhage, but on the whole I found this to be much less interesting than Caravaggio.

CHASTE VIRGIN

If this is representative of the Taiwan "New Wave," than the movement still needs at least a few years to mature. There are some definite breaks with the traditional Taiwanese melodrama but old values (both cinematic and philosophical) still retain a stranglehold. This "realist" depiction of rural farm life and harsh economic realities is smothered by stock characters and situations and cloying sentimentality.

Bill

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Angelic Conversation, The (1985)

reviewed byWilliam Tsun-Yuk Hsu

reviewed by
William Tsun-Yuk Hsu