Angel by Thursday

The independent feature film Angel by Thursday is a lovely movie to behold, with gorgeous cinematography - it's filled with shots of Hawaii that really make you want to travel there. It's also a beautifully told and acted movie, full of strong performances from its actors. Director Jeff Wallace, Olga Kalashnikova and her team do an excellent job, both technically and artistically, of telling a story about destiny and how we overcome tragedy. It's a story told with real feeling and it captivates the viewer right from the start. Making an indie feature is certainly no mean feat, and I hope we will see more work from this team before long. Kudos to the crew and cast behind Angel by Thursday.

Plot? Yeah, it had one. It wasn't perfect, but it'll do.

Acting? Pretty stiff. Olga Kalashnikova definitely tries too hard, and her overacting is painfully cringeworthy for most of the film. Kenneth Matepi has a few stiff moments, but he's mostly believable. Some of his lines, particularly early on in the film, were corny and rather limiting. Overall, I think he'd have been more fluid in his native accent. Some of the minor roles actually seemed to be more believable actors. The young Tobias family was impressively smooth.

The cinematography is reasonably well done, especially for an indie, and shows some nice local scenery. One odd element tho, is that Wallace chose to set the film in summer and make big waves at Waimea Bay a key plot point, when winter is the time for north shore surf. Seems like a basic oversight that nobody bothered to correct, and anyone who knows the islands will probably raise an eyebrow.

Life takes twists and turns that in many cases can be unexpected. How much is a result of the choices we make or just happenstance who can tell? Then, many times the choices we make take us down a road we never intended. The main characters have all suffered tragic circumstances in their lives and unbeknownst to them they are on a collision course to find each other. The movie is very engrossing, emotional as well as lighthearted at times. There are things that would seem predictable in another film, but here there appears to be a life force directing their actions from another realm, which makes coincidence believable. The shots of Hawaii are breathtaking. The actors are well cast and Kenneth Matepi and Olga Kalashnikova are especially good.