Angela und der Engel

The ten year-old Angela (Miranda Stuart Rhyne) and her little sister Ellie (Charlotte Blythe) move to an old house in the countryside with her parents Mae (Anna Thomson) and Andrew (John Ventimiglia). Their mother has mental illness and has just left an institution and her husband tries to keep the dysfunctional family together. Angela is an imaginative disturbed girl that might have inherited the illness of her mother and is obsessed by purification to get rid of her sins; and has visions of the fallen angel Lucifer and the Virgin Mary. She leads her little sister in her paranoia and uses a circle of toys and dolls to protect them against evil. They have a crazy neighbor that Angela believes is an angel and she asks the woman how to find the way to heaven. When Mae returns to the institution, Angela becomes uncontrollable in her quest to heaven.

"Angela" is a weird and bizarre film about mental illness and religious paranoia. Angela seems to have inherited the mental disorder of her mother, having vision of Lucifer and Virgin Mary, and fantasizing purification processes to cleanse the sins to reach heaven. The worst is that she drags her little sister in her fantasy. The tragic conclusion is expected. It is impressive the number of times that the microphone is visible. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): 'Angela: Nas Asas da Imaginação' ("Angela: In the Wings of the Imagination")

I caught ANGELA on IFC a couple of years ago; it's been in the back of my mind since then. ANGELA is about two young girls who create their own realities in order to deal with the painful reality of their mother's manic depression. It pinpoints and explores the relationship between the interior self and the subjective world--the process by which we create meaning when meaning runs riot in the "objective" world.

Its direction by Rebecca Miller is impeccable -- she coaxes sensitive, complex performances out of each and every character, most notably in the young protagonist and in her even younger sister. Such fine performances are a tribute the script, as well.

From cinematography to art direction to costumes, it manages to convey a truly unified, important, tender and thought-provoking vision... The world would be a better place with more films like this one. Thank you, Ms. Miller!

I happened to see this on late night swiss TV(!); as far as I'm aware it was never released in Europe, where it would surely strike a note. Anyway: beautiful in every respect, true poetry in the photography and styling, the two girls are spellbinding, the whole thing is magical. Complimenti to R. Miller - eagerly awaitng your next movie.

The two girls playing the lead parts here are total amateurs who act better actors' studio veterans. 'Level of belief beyond what any adult actors could achieve' is right, as Rebecca Miller, the director and writer, put it herself in her introduction on IFC. 'Jessica' is the story of a sort of modern day, adventurous, 'Huckleberry Finn type 10 year old girl living in the boondocks (Poughkeepsie?) with parents who are apparently former aspiring entertainer/artists who have now resigned themselves to the loss of their dreams and are having some weird, not quite clearly stated (but better for it being so)problems in their relationship. The mother succumbs to mental illness and Jessica, in order to cope creates an imaginary universe of 'order' based on the odd mixture of beliefs she's been taught in the (Christian Scientist?)household. Her only disciple is her little sister Ellie who follows her around as they do things to absolve themselves from whatever 'sins' they have committed, and 'go to heaven.' The wonderfully eccentric plot is beside the point though, because what emerges here is a unique perspective from the vantage point of a (quite mature but not vulgar) 10 year old, which automatically takes the viewer back to the forgotten soul of the 10 year old in themselves (not the silly Star Wars junkie type 10 year old soul, but the unspoiled , down-to-earth-in-its-flights-of-fancy, ten year old imagination that exists to whatever degree in all kids before it is forever eradicated). This is not easy; it is not like making a Disney movie. It requires super-involved naturalistic acting on the level of Brando and DeNiro from children. What Miller knows to her great credit is that children are much more likely to become 'themselves living in a different world' and therefore, a 'character' because they do not yet have the inhibitions that block most adult actors from believing the film world is real! The film world is as 'real' to them, as anything else once they get used to it. Jean-Pierre Leaud (for instance) has never again achieved the level of realism, as an experienced adult actor, that he did in 'The 400 Blows.' I'm glad I recorded this beautiful little film (since it's not available on video and is only shown once in a long while on IFC)because it clearly belongs in the same class of No-BS movies about childhood exemplified by 'The Little Fugitive,''Forbidden Games,''400 Blows,' and 'Au Revoir Les Enfants.'

Rebecca Miller's haunting tale of a young girl driven by her religious obsessions into a frightening world of hallucinogenic images and superstitious delusion. There are touching performances by the two principal girl actors, Miranda Stuart Rhyne and Charlotte Eve Blythe. Rhyne, in particular, is engaging as the young protagonist caught in a heavenly struggle between good and evil to save her mentally ill mother. She convincingly portrays Angela as a determined and feisty but naive and vulnerable child in equal measure; someone who is headstrong but literally open to abuse.

There is a fine director's commentary on the DVD narrated by Miller exploring the themes and motivations that went into the making of the film.