{"id":12266,"date":"2015-09-26T14:03:47","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T18:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12266"},"modified":"2015-09-26T14:03:47","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T18:03:47","slug":"br-angel-1982","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12266","title":{"rendered":"BR: Angel (1982)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Angel1982_BR\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 September 8, 2015<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Crime \/ Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0After witnessing the murder of his manager and an innocent bystander, a saxophonist moonlights as an assassin, tracking down and meting out revenge for the killings.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 Isolated Music & Effects Track \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available Exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Neil Jordan\u2019s first feature film as writer-director mostly works \u2013 it\u2019s about 80% successful in its careful portrayal of an Irish saxophonist (Stephen Rea) who goes on a revenge spree after his manager and a deaf mute are killed by a local gang that may have connections above street-level \u2013 but even with its flaws, it\u2019s an impressive work that showcases a lot of fine talent in small roles, each vital to a grim portrait of working class life under bleak skies, trash-ridden landscapes, and killers who have banal daytime lives as fishermen and shoe salesmen.<\/p>\n

Rea\u2019s Danny heads a band with singer Deirdre (screen newcomer \/ multi-talented singer Honor Heffernan), and when not making gigs and engaging in an emotionally numb romance with the striking redhead, Danny\u2019s trolling the streets for killers, initially going on nothing more than a specific shuffling of shoes on dirty pavement.<\/p>\n

Jordan has the story unfold like a working class film noir, perhaps taking a bit of sixties Free Cinema<\/a>, and some British bleakism from Mike Hodges\u2019 unrelenting Get Carter<\/strong> (1971), where revenge trumps love or any attempt at normalcy, but Jordan\u2019s spin isn\u2019t so cold: Danny\u2019s performance style actually grows with each revenge killing, as does the interest of Deirdre, and he becomes hipper and cooler with the band \u2013 or at least in his own mind \u2013 as he wears sunglasses day & night like some \u2018killer\u2019 rock star on the local band circuit.<\/p>\n

The crooning scenes look and feel noirish in spite of the neon colours \u2013 Deirdre\u2019s hair is often propped up like a forties love interest \u2013 but the music numbers are backdrops to more interesting minutia that relates to the killings, and while Danny\u2019s quest enjoys an unusual success rate in tracking down each member of the murderous party, it mostly works because Jordan\u2019s set up Danny\u2019s world as tightly knit – where anyone can bump into a fleeting acquaintance or admirer in the most mundane places.<\/p>\n

The tonal switches between dark and occasional light scenes in the first two-thirds also work because they humanize Danny \u2013 a moment with the aunt who taught him to dance is especially lovely \u2013 and rather than dwell on lengthy skulking montages or long speeches where Danny hunts down and metes out punishment, there\u2019s always small details that humanize even the villains, most of whom are more afraid of dying alone than the method of death.<\/p>\n

Scenes of the doomed men have a strange stoicism \u2013 once plugged with bullets, they\u2019re emotionally and spiritually vulnerable instead of spewing clich\u00e9d movie bravado \u2013 and Danny\u2019s bumbling and trigger-happy actions are just as destructive as the killers, but Jordan\u2019s script gets a bit wonky in the final act: an encounter with a widow is more of an indulgence in extra nihilism than firm plotting, and the wrap-up is a bit too neat, although one suspects Jordan\u2019s hyper-focus on characters functioned as coverage for a limited budget that prevented elaborate chases and montages.<\/p>\n

Chris Menges\u2019 cinematography is beautiful and bleak, preserving the grim working class environs that take Danny and the band through small towns, seaside venues, and a mental asylum (itself a brilliant little scene that clinches the weird world of an itinerant, struggling band), and the songs are both cheesy, at times and quite touching, especially the slow moody pieces where Heffernan\u2019s crooning of Paddy Meegan\u2019s songs seem to harmonically capture the awkwardness of Danny\u2019s new life as musician \/ assassin, and Deirdre\u2019s doomed romance.<\/p>\n

Ray McAnally (A Perfect Spy<\/strong>, Jack the Ripper<\/strong>, Great Expectations<\/strong>) is wonderful in his handful of scenes as the matter-of-fact lead detective, and would appear in several of Jordan\u2019s subsequent films, while Lisa Ann McLaughlin underplays a fetching, randy bride. Veronica Quilligan\u2019s portrayal of the doomed deaf mute is touching and eerie, and Heffernan is effective as the often moping Deirdre; the singer would appear in just a handful of TV shows and one final film, choosing to focus on her career in rock, jazz, and later folk music.<\/p>\n

Executive produced by John Boorman, Angel<\/strong> is a natural lead-in to Jordan\u2019s breakthrough indie hit Mona Lisa<\/strong> (1986), and forms the tip of his street-level crime programme that include The Crying Game<\/strong> (1992) with Rae, The Good Thief <\/strong>(2002), and The Brave One<\/strong> (2007).<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray features a sharp transfer that retains the grain and grit of Menges\u2019 cinematography, and a clean mono sound mix. Extras include fine liner notes by Julie Kirgo and a mono music & effects track with Meegan\u2019s songs and Keith Donald\u2019s super-sparse score.<\/p>\n

Other films produced by Film Four and released by TT include Alan Clarke\u2019s Rita, Sue and Bob Too<\/a><\/strong> (1987), Pat O\u2019Connor\u2019s A Month in the Country<\/a><\/strong> (1987), Paul Greengrass\u2019 Resurrected<\/a><\/strong> (1989), and Nick Hornby\u2019s Fever Pitch<\/a><\/strong> (1997).<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB \u00a0<\/a>— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neil Jordan\u2019s first feature film as writer-director mostly works \u2013 it\u2019s about 80% successful in its careful portrayal of an Irish saxophonist (Stephen Rea) who goes on a revenge spree after his manager and a deaf mute are killed by a local gang that may have connections above street-level…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3960,3964,3959,3963,3961,3965,3962],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3bQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12266"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12272,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12266\/revisions\/12272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}