PJM's wierd and wonderful list
Wings of Desire - 1987 (Germany)

I saw this a couple of years ago and was utterly blown away. Set and filmed at the tail end of Cold War, it tells the story about a group of angels overseeing a divided city struggling to come to terms with it's past. Each of the angels offers silent comfort to the sad and damaged souls of the city as you hear their innermost thoughts. However, one angel falls in love with a mortal and sets about embracing his own mortality as he falls from heaven to Earth - a plot which is as old as Greek mythology itself.

What sets it apart though was the casting of the two main angel characters by two actors who were close friends. Their warmth and chemistry is evident as they discuss the bleak, black and white city around them. Then there's Peter Falk's character who plays Peter Falk... Who just happens to be able to see the angels and converses at length with Bruno Ganz's character. It's also worth noting that the female actress in the circus scene had never done a trapeze until eight weeks before filming and her routine was self taught.

Beat that Nick Cage and Meg Ryan.

A Matter of Life and Death - 1946 (GB/USA)

Filmed in the aftermath of WW2 and starring the effortlessly suave David Niven. The plot involved Niven's character flying an ailing bomber home from a mission over Nazi Germany knowing that he's no way of surviving a crash landing. An American female air traffic controller offers him words of stoical comfort during his final minutes until the plane ditches in the English Channel. However, Niven is surprised to be washed ashore without a scratch and seeks out - and eventually falls in love with - the American WAAC he spoke with over the radio.

Meanwhile, the powers that be in heaven aren't pleased and summon Niven to trial for his life, stating that he should have died in the crash.

The film itself is beautifully directed, with the heaven scenes filmed in black and white - aped much later by Wings Of Desire. it bravely deals with the evident cracks in Anglo-American relations during the immediate post war period without flinching, yet focuses on eventual reconciliation.

Donnie Darko - 2000 (USA)

An independent film part financed and produced by it's co-star Drew Barrymore, Donnie Darko bombed upon cinema release. However, when it eventually became available on DVD it quickly garnered a cult following.

You're all aware of the plot by now, but I'm briefly explain that teenage Donnie is woken in the middle of the night by a man dressed as a six foot ghoulish bunny who summons him to follow him to a nearby golf course. The very next morning, Donnie returns home to find that a jet engine has fallen from the sky and landed on the family home, right on top of what was Donnie's own bedroom. To further confuse the plot, no-one has any idea where the engine came from or why Donnie escaped death.

Well worth watching the directors cut if you don't want to have to sit through the film a dozen times before you make sense of the plot. The plotline is backed up by solid performances all round and enough comic relief to keep you smiling without diluting the appeal of the film.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 17 Jul 2008, 16:50, 2 replies)

Wings of Desire
Yes it is beautiful and whimsical but I still like the remake with Cage and Ryan - City of Angels...but for entirely different reasons...it's a different film altogether and it's worth it just for the fantastic sad puppy-dog eyes that Cage has...but when Ryan gets on the bike at the end I was honestly shouting out - LOOK OUT FOR THE TRUCK!
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 17 Jul 2008, 18:53, closed)

Wings of Desire
is excellent. 'When the child was a child...' etc.

City of Angels is just shit and typically American.
(Hagbard Celine, Thu 17 Jul 2008, 20:51, closed)