re:mote voices

Title: Angel-A
Cast: Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen
Director: Luc Besson

André is a liar and a gambler, who just had his luck run out. He owes a handful of people a whole lot of money and they all just decided to collect on the same day. He has till midnight. Or else. André does what he does best, tries to lie and bluff his way out of it, but it is doing him no good and things just keep getting worse. Attempting to hide from people he thinks are after him he finds himself hanging off a bridge, there he realises that he has hit bottom and decides enough is enough. He will kill himself.

About to jump he suddenly notices a 6-foot tall blonde in a barely there dress who is also about to jump. Instead of killing himself, he swims to her rescue when she throws herself from the bridge. The girl is determine to kill herself though, and André is left with the question of how to make sure she doesn’t. Eventually he suggests that she should find something better to do, like perhaps help him out, after all she owes him her life. Not entirely convinced, she grudgingly agrees to help him, and introduces herself as Angela. The unlikely pair then set about sorting André’s life out. But this girl who describes herself as a 6-foot slut turns out to be some kind of saviour for André.

Angel-A is the first film to be written and directed by Luc Besson in some time. Not produced by or from the mind of, or any of that stuff like Transporter or District 13 or Unleashed. Instead this is a proper fully committed Besson film, and the results of this black and white Parisian fable are certainly up to his standards. A contemporary Wonderful Life, Angel-A is charming modern myth with a grubby veneer of urban undertone. Delving into the heart of a broken man to offer him hope, and taking us on the journey that rebuilds him. At times touching and amusing, and overall wonderfully shot and entirely memorable.