City of Angels

Brad Silverling, 1998 (116 mins, Cert. 12)

Meg Ryan stars alongside Nicolas Cage in a sizzling romantic drama about a guardian angel who falls in love with the woman he is assigned to protect. Ryan turns in a wonderful performance as a disillusioned heart surgeon who loses her faith in science when one of her patients dies. Beautifully crafted in style and design, City of Angels is both a romantic celebration of the city of Los Angeles and a poetic drama about the true meaning of love and desire.
(Barbican publicity)

What a lovely film! Cage is perfectly cast as the angel who falls for a human, in an involving and moving story. The growing relationship between the two is tenderly portrayed and the philosophical questions posed do not intrude too far into what is basically a love story with an intriguing twist. Beautiful, brightly-lit, photography, and a nicely humourous cameo from Dennis Franz add to the pleasure. I don't know how closely it is "based on" the Wim Wenders original (Wings of Desire) but this one is certainly a delightful, lyrical film.
(Steve Fagg)

Seen: Monday, 29th June, 1998 (Barbican 2)