L'Angle Mort

An update of HG Wells' classic the invisible man" ? How tempting! And no need for scientific research ; our hero's gift is innate .Some scientists told Welles that an invisible man had to be blind ,and the writer was aware of it .For the 21st century invisible man , not only he 's not , but he does not wear any clothes when he uses his "gift" : he always loiters in the nude when he spies on his fellow men ; the warnings on the imdb page are thoroughly true: full frontal male nudity ,and one wonders what it is trying to prove .

The story starts under favourable auspices :the prologue,notably , with the baby who disappears is a smart way to introduce the hero .The odd suicides wave in the subway gives an eerie feel to the movie (Welles' hero committed a murder too and intended to commit more ) ,as do the strange TV broadcasts .Besides,Dominick , the invisible man, is black , it could have been a brilliant anti-racist fable.The love affair with a blind musician is another good idea ,much more interesting than the first girlfriend who naively thinks that New-York is only waiting for her. But promises remain on hold.

It's the directors (they are two!) ' wish,but it 's Welles' reality. "Masterful!" claims a critic on a poster which is pure wishful thinking: what's definitely lacking is a firm screenplay ; Dominick is afraid to lose his powers ,but one never feels his fear :as far as suspense is concerned ,my "hitckocometer" points sullenly towards zero.Humor is totally absent ,even in the scene in the toilets .All the characters ,Dominick's mom and dad (of course divorced,but dad comes back to sing a little tune (of course, in English!) for his dying wife ), nurse sister , friendly boss, are cardboard ,and one wonders why one should take an interest in their life .