City of Angels (film)

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Movie
German title city ​​of Angels
Original title City of Angels
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1998
length 110 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Brad Silberling
script Dana Stevens
Screenplay Template:
Wim Wenders ,
Peter Handke ,
Richard Reitinger
production Charles Roven ,
Dawn Steel
music Gabriel Yared
camera John Seale
cut Lynzee Klingman
occupation

City of Angels (Original title: City of Angels ) is a film drama from 1998 by director Brad Silberling with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan in the lead roles. It is another film adaptation of the theme that Wim Wenders came up with in 1987 for his film Der Himmel über Berlin .

action

Angels move in the midst of people. These are invisible, but can also make themselves visible if you want. Seth is one of them in Los Angeles . The angels, dressed completely in black, look like humans and prefer to stay in libraries. Apart from a few situations in which they can push people to specific thoughts by touching them, they are only observers and accompany dying people into "the other world". You can read people's minds, speak any language and listen to the heavenly choir at sunrise and sunset, but you cannot perceive any physical sensations, smell or taste anything.

Heart surgeon Maggie Rice, a patient dies on the operating table. Angel Seth, who picks up the dead man, is touched by her despair. He observes her grief and anger as well as her feeling of seemingly helpless fighting against an unknown power. He decides to make himself visible and the two fall in love. But they see no prospect for their love. Until Seth comes across Nathaniel Messinger, another of Maggie's patients. He explains to him that he is a former angel who could choose to become a person through the free will granted by the angels. Maggie receives a marriage proposal from her colleague and longtime friend Jordan. Maggie tells Seth that she wants someone who can feel and doesn't want to see him again.

Seth decides to become human and drops off a skyscraper. From then on he feels like people, is visible, smells and tastes. He goes looking for Maggie, but he does not find her at the hospital because she has been driving to a vacation cabin on Lake Tahoe for a few days . He hitchhiked after her. She didn't marry Jordan because she loves Seth. Maggie and Seth spend the night together. When Maggie happily returns from shopping the next morning on her bike, she hits a truck. Seth senses that something must have happened and rushes to her. Maggie dies in his arms. Seth now has to learn to live on as a person and without her. Nevertheless, he is happy that he only had the opportunity to “feel” the woman for a short time. That is more comfortable for him than an eternal life without this possibility.

background

  • The book from the library, which Seth later gives Maggie, is A Moveable Feast (German book title: Paris - Ein Fest fürs Leben ) by Ernest Hemingway .
  • The action takes place in Los Angeles , which is derived from the Spanish Los Ángeles and literally means The Angels . Seth tells Maggie that he is a messenger (in the original Messenger ), which in Greek means Angelos , from which the word angel is derived. The name of Messinger is pronounced in the film like the English word messenger , that messenger .
  • Michael Mann has a short guest appearance in the film: He is sitting next to Seth at the bar.
  • The film ends with the dedication “for Dawn”. This refers to Dawn Steel, the producer and wife of second producer Charles Roven, who died of a brain tumor before the film was released in December 1997.
  • Filming began on April 19, 1997 and ended on July 28, 1997. The film was shot in Los Angeles, San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe .
  • Production costs were estimated at around $ 55 million. The film grossed around 198 million US dollars in cinemas around the world, including around 78 million US dollars in the United States.
  • It was released in theaters on April 10, 1998 in the USA and on July 23, 1998 in Germany.

Reviews

“The first half an hour is still convincing: In numerous vignettes, not only the daily earth business of the angels is captured in a tight atmosphere, but also a lot of the aura of Los Angeles. And with Dr. We are introduced to Maggie Rice's job in a shockingly unsentimental way - heart massage on the open organ is not exactly part of the standard repertoire of film romances. […] Unfortunately, Nicolas Cage, who is otherwise highly esteemed, doesn't turn out to be particularly helpful: This time he can think of little more than riding his tried and tested dachshund look and whispering voices ad nauseam to death. […] I was already feeling like the angels from 'City of Angels': I could observe with interest, but not empathize. Only that it seemed to me that it wasn't my heart that was missing, but the film. "

- Thomas Willmann on artechock.de

"It is clear that the 'City of Angels' filmed by Brad Silberling never achieves the fantastic qualities of Wim Wenders' original - but the Hollywood version is definitely good for some tears of emotion [...] right from the first scene, in which Nicolas Cage as an angel watches the death of an innocent girl. In general, the Oscar winner is one of the film's weak points. [...] The Hollywood variant shifts the focus to the drama of life in general - and that of the love story in particular. Although the meaning of being human is still discussed in many moments, the depth and poetry of the original are missing. […] Everything in Los Angeles is a bit bigger, more breathtaking and more dramatic - but the small, magical moments that make Wenders' original what it is can only be discovered in Berlin. At least, compared to other Schmonzetten from the dream factory, 'City of Angels' is worth seeing despite its weak points. In particular, a convincing Meg Ryan and the kind hearted Dennis Franz as the 'angel mentor' carry the polished romantic drama to the tearful end. "

- Jens Hamp on filmstarts.de

“A film carried by a convincing lead actor, which is not immune to the clichés of American romance, but is serious enough to sound out the spiritual dimensions of its subject. A confrontation with love, life and death, which in its tightest moments certainly succeeds in giving consolation. "

- Lexicon of International Films

Awards

  • Grammy Awards 1999 : Alanis Morissette was nominated for her title "Uninvited" in the category Best Song written especially for film or television . Gabriel Yared was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition Written for Film or Television .
  • Golden Globe Awards 1999 : Alanis Morissette was nominated for her title "Uninvited" in the category Best Original Song in a Feature Film .
  • The film received a 1998 Bogey Award for reaching an average of 1,000 viewers per film copy on the first opening weekend.

Film music

Titles used in the film:

  1. Red House - Jimi Hendrix
  2. Further On Up The Road - Eric Clapton
  3. Mama, You Got A Daughter - John Lee Hooker
  4. Feelin 'Love - Paula Cole
  5. If God Will Send His Angels - U2
  6. Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Louis Prima
  7. That Old Black Magic - Frank Sinatra
  8. Angel - Sarah McLachlan
  9. Angelus - Wojciech Kilar
  10. Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
  11. I Grieve - Peter Gabriel
  12. Uninvited - Alanis Morissette

Uninvited by Alanis Morissette won two Grammy Awards.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.artechock.de/film/text/kritik/s/stdeen.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/100867-Stadt-der-Engel/kritik.html
  3. ↑ http://www.zweitausendeins.de/filmlexikon/?wert=508951&sucheNach=titel

Web links