City of Angels (film)

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City of Angels
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBrad Silberling
Screenplay byDana Stevens
Produced byCharles Roven
Dawn Steel
Starring
CinematographyJohn Seale
Edited byLynzee Klingman
Music byGabriel Yared
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • April 10, 1998 (1998-04-10) (United States)
Running time
114 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$55 million[2]
Box office$198.7 million[3]

City of Angels is a 1998 U.S. romantic fantasy film directed by Brad Silberling and starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. Set in Los Angeles, California, the film is a loose remake of Wim Wenders' 1987 German film Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), which was set in Berlin.

As with the original, City of Angels tells the story of an angel who falls in love with a human, and wishes to become human in order to be with her. Themes were borrowed from Wenders' work, though the ending was altered. It was filmed around California and dedicated to producer Dawn Steel, who died before the premiere.

The remake was released to financial success, but mixed reviews, with a few critics judging it to be a mawkish adaptation. It was also noted for its soundtrack, and nominated for several awards, particularly for its performances and soundtrack.

Plot

In Los Angeles, California, Seth is one of many angels who watch over humans and protect them in unseen ways. Seth's main responsibility is to appear to those who are close to death and guide them to the next life. As part of this task, Seth and one of his fellow angels, Cassiel, like to ask people what their favorite thing in life was. Despite these daily encounters, they have trouble understanding human beings and their ways.

While waiting to escort a man who will not survive heart surgery to the other world, Seth is impressed by the vigorous efforts of the surgeon, Maggie Rice, to try to save the ill-fated man's life and her sincere anguish at her failure to do so. Seth soon becomes preoccupied with Maggie and decides to become visible to her. They develop a friendship which soon turns to mutual attraction, although Maggie is already involved with one of her colleagues, Jordan Ferris. She later learns he is an angel. Seth then meets Nathaniel Messinger, one of Maggie's patients, who can sense Seth's presence and that of other angels. Nathaniel soon relates to Seth that he, too, had once been an angel but, by way of the free will granted equally to mortals and angels, decided to become human through the process he refers to as "falling". Seth begins to consider exercising this option so that he can be with Maggie.

Lake Tahoe is featured in the film.

Seth decides to become human through the symbolic gesture of jumping from the top of a skyscraper. Immediately upon awakening, he starts to experience all of the human feelings and sensations that he had never been able to understand, beginning with physical injury and pain. Now human, Seth heads to the hospital to see Maggie, but is told that she has gone to her uncle's mountain cabin for a break. Penniless and naive, he cannot pay for the journey and ends up getting mugged and having his boots taken by a gang. He eventually hitches a ride to Lake Tahoe and appears, soaked and cold, at Maggie's doorstep. Maggie realizes that he has given up his angelic status for her love. They have sex. The next morning, as Seth is in the shower, Maggie rides her bike to a local store. On her way back, happy and fulfilled, she rides her bike with her eyes closed and her arms wide open. Her happiness is cut short by a truck that catches her by surprise when it pulls out in front of her. Seth senses that Maggie is in trouble and runs to her aid. He arrives in time for Maggie to tell him that she sees the angel who has come to escort her away. Although Seth is no longer able to see the angels, he knows they are there and frantically begs Maggie not to look at them. Maggie tells him that she is not afraid anymore and that when they will ask her what her favorite thing in life used to be, she will say it was Seth, before she dies.

Grieving and alone, Seth is visited by Cassiel. Seth questions if he is being punished for leaving heaven to be a human, which Cassiel assures him is not the case. Some time later, Seth expresses his joy in being human and the fact that he has come to terms with his new life by running into the water and playing in the waves. In a rare moment of emotion, Cassiel laughs joyfully for his old friend.

Cast

File:Nicholas Cage(2).jpg
Nicolas Cage stars as Seth.
Actor Character Wings of Desire analogue Original performer
Nicolas Cage Seth Damiel[4] Bruno Ganz
Meg Ryan Dr. Maggie Rice Marion[5][6] Solveig Dommartin
Andre Braugher Cassiel[4] Otto Sander
Colm Feore Jordan Ferris — —
Dennis Franz Nathaniel Messinger Peter Falk[7][8]
Robin Bartlett Anne — —
Joanna Merlin Teresa Messinger — —
Sarah Dampf Susan — —

Themes

Themes invoke the fallen angel, though not related to evil.

City of Angels invokes the idea of the fallen angel in Seth's transformation into a human. However, author Scott Culpepper argues this is not related to evil or exile from heaven, and is instead based on free will.[9] The fact that Maggie is killed very shortly after Seth's transformation poses the question of whether Seth left "heaven for ashes", but the conclusion is that "the very temporality of relationships, experiences and feelings are what are what make them meaningful".[9] Writer Brian Godawa interprets the film as having a "humanistic worldview" in which "physical humanity" outranks the spiritual, but feels this contradicts 1 Peter 1:12, where "things which angels desire to look into" are in the gospel of the "Holy Spirit".[10] Encyclopedist Andrew Tate believes the fact that the angels reside in the library indicates they represent "an age of reason, order and learning", though these principles led to decline in faith, considering Nathaniel's line "They don't believe in us anymore".[8] Tate further writes Maggie is a surgeon with no spiritual faith and, through Seth, she "learns to trust the invisible", while Seth learns the wonders of life through her.[6]

On the choice of Los Angeles as a setting, Gabriel Solomons contrasts the depiction of the city as door to heaven to other films depicting it as "psychological dead end" or actual hell (as in Constantine).[11] However, Professor Jeff Malpas says that, whereas Der Himmel über Berlin was informed by Berlin, Los Angeles, sometimes known in real life as the "City of Angels", "provides nothing more than a convenient location".[12]

Production

Development

San Francisco Public Library was a filming location.[13]

Director Brad Silberling praised Wim Wenders' 1987 German film Wings of Desire, calling it "truly the most incredible cinematic experience of observation of human detail".[14] Silberling, while acknowledging Wenders' film was meant as a tribute to West Berlin, remarked that it became "a larger human discussion".[14] In 1989, at the initiative of producer Dawn Steel,[15] a U.S. company reached out to Wenders to purchase the rights.[16] Silberling secured the position of director after his success with the 1995 film adaptation of Casper.[17] Steel also selected Dana Stevens as screenwriter.[7] It was the last film produced by Steel, with her husband Charles Roven, before her death, and it is dedicated to her.[18]

While City of Angels is a remake, star Nicolas Cage said that moving the setting from Berlin in the time of the Wall to Los Angeles demanded story changes, with heavier focus on romance.[19] Although Silberling did not use the black and white the angels see in the original Wings of Desire and Faraway, So Close!, the remake does borrow the idea of angels inhabiting libraries.[8] The ending of the story was also altered, so Maggie is killed, a less happy conclusion than the original. Silberling equated this to a scene in Wings of Desire where the angel protagonist goes to the side of a motorcyclist near death.[15]

Filming

The Los Angeles Bank of America was used for the falling scene.

Cage said that with this role, he had to switch from his regular methods of constant movements to trying to be "effective" while often still.[19] He remarked on having to adopt the mindset of a child, and act impressed by commonplace experiences such as feeling rain or sunlight.[20] A rig for the camera was built for the scene where the angelic Seth sees Maggie look in the mirror, and the crew shot the mirror without the actors for one take so Cage's reflection could be edited out from the take with both.[21]

Other special effects involved a "going to the light" afterlife depiction, in which Seth walks with a little girl who has died. After cinematographer John Seale shot the scene in a hallway, Sony Pictures Imageworks' John Nelson increased the brightness to end in white, adding splinters of light.[21]

Some of the film was shot at Lake Tahoe's surrounding areas and Kern County.[22] The "falling" scene was partially shot at the Los Angeles Bank of America, while Cage was placed on a moving rig over a bluescreen.[21] Ryan's death scene was filmed on Old Mill Road in Crestline, California.[22] The library scenes were shot at San Francisco Public Library.[13] For angel scenes shot at Malibu Beach, it was decided that the angels would have footprints to avoid the perception that the sand was too hard to leave imprints. Thus, Nelson erased the footprints soon after they are first seen.[21]

Scenes were shot at Malibu Beach.

Music

Main article: City of Angels (soundtrack)

The score was composed by Gabriel Yared, often using three notes to convey ascent. Pop synthesizers, pianos and strings are used for the three-note compositions where the angels observe Los Angeles, where the child in the prologue dies and where Seth experiences Maggie's despair, respectively.[23] Yared also employed violins and celli, sometimes using one to accompany a line of voice-over dialogue and another for follow-up dialogue.[24]

The City of Angels soundtrack debuted at number twenty-three on the Billboard 200 chart on the issue dated 18 April 1998.[25] Its two singles, the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" and Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited", were released to U.S. radio in March and were still receiving substantial radio airplay by the following August.[26]

Release

In test screenings, Silberling said it had favorable reactions, though with some confused viewers.[15] City of Angels had its debut at Los Angeles' Mann Theatres on April 8, 1998. The screening was held to benefit the Dawn Steel Putting Girls in the Picture Fund, in honor of Steel, who died in December 1997. Silberling, Roven and their stars were in attendance.[18]

The film's wider release in the United States took place during the weekend,[27] distributed by Warner Bros.[28] In 2014, Warner published a Blu-ray in Region A, with audio commentary from Silberling, Roven and Stevens.[29]

Reception

Box office

The film opened first in the box office, making $16.1 million in its opening weekend.[27] It displaced Lost in Space, which was first in the box office for one week, after overtaking Titanic, first for 15 weeks. Titanic ranked third behind City of Angels and Lost in Space.[30]

City of Angels finished its run after grossing $78,685,114 in North America and $120 million in other territories, for a total of nearly $200 million.[3] Writer Craig Detweiler concluded the remake drew more viewers than the original.[31]

Critical reception

Meg Ryan received positive reviews for her performance.

Roger Ebert gave it three stars, saying Meg Ryan was at her best here, but the film was "more of a formula story" than the original Wings of Desire, and that many of its qualities were lifted from there.[32] The New York Times' Stephen Holden wrote the standard romantic cliches were "sumptuously" displayed, Cage resembled a serial killer more than an angel, and he preferred Ryan.[28] In Variety, Emanuel Levy positively reviewed Cage as "endlessly resourceful" and Ryan as "terrifically engaging".[33] David Denby wrote in New York that unlike Berlin, Los Angeles offers "the sunlit paradise" that does not need an advocate for how nice it is to be alive in.[34] Entertainment Weekly gave it a C, with Owen Gleiberman describing it as "a hymn to sappiness".[35] CNN's Paul Clinton dismissed the remake as a "schmaltzy" and "vapid" version of Wings of Desire.[36] The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan dismissed it as "a mawkish debasement of its source material", asking "When will Hollywood learn to leave well enough alone?"[37] Michael Wilmington gave it in The Chicago Tribune, enjoyed the appearance of the film but concluded it feels "forced and mechanically weepy".[7] Writing for Empire, William Thomas credited Silberling for "a fresh eye", but felt the film fell short in "philosophical claptrap".[38]

In 2012, Time included it in its Top 10 On-Screen Depictions of Heaven list, for its portrayal of the "go toward the light" afterlife experience.[39] In his 2015 Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin gave it two and a half stars, judging it "still intriguing" though losing much of the atmosphere of the original.[40] That year, Indiewire, in reviewing remakes, called City of Angels "a sickly bastardization" of its source material, though remarking Wenders himself was unable to duplicate its success with his 1993 sequel, Faraway, So Close!.[41] In 2017, MSN included it in its 20 All-Time Worst Movie Remakes list, acknowledging it as a financial hit but "a schmaltzy tearjerker" compared to the poetry of the original.[42] The film has a 59% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 60 reviews,[43] and a 54 on Metacritic based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[44]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
ASCAP Award 1999 Top Box Office Films City of Angels Won [45]
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 1999 Favorite Actor - Drama/Romance Nicolas Cage Won [46]
Favorite Actress - Drama/Romance Meg Ryan Nominated [47]
Golden Globes January 24, 1999 Best Original Song "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette Nominated [48]
MTV Movie Awards June 5, 1999 Best On-Screen Duo Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan Nominated [49]
Best Movie Song "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls Nominated
Satellite Awards January 17, 1999 Best Original Score Gabriel Yared Nominated [50]
Saturn Awards June 9, 1999 Best Fantasy Film City of Angels Nominated [47]
Best Actress Meg Ryan Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Dennis Franz Nominated

References

  1. ^ "CITY OF ANGELS". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  2. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (August 20, 1998). "High Costs of 'Joe Black' Challenge Industry Rule". The New York Times. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "City of Angels". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 7, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b King 2014, p. 89.
  5. ^ Der Spiegel, Issues 19-22. R. Augstein. 1998. p. 194.
  6. ^ a b Tate 2011, p. 24.
  7. ^ a b c Wilmington, Michael (April 10, 1998). "Caught In The Middle". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  8. ^ a b c Tate 2011, p. 23.
  9. ^ a b Culpepper 2016, p. 28.
  10. ^ Godawa 2011, p. 242.
  11. ^ Solomons 2011, p. 6.
  12. ^ Malpas 2007, p. 150.
  13. ^ a b Marcus 2015, p. 206.
  14. ^ a b Kenny, J.M.; Silberling, Brad (2009). The Angels Among Us (Blu-ray). The Criterion Collection. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |in= ignored (help)
  15. ^ a b c Albers, Markus (June 29, 1998). "Hat Hollywood ein Herz für Engel?". Der Spiegel. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  16. ^ Kenny, J.M.; Wenders, Wim (2009). The Angels Among Us (Blu-ray). The Criterion Collection. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |in= ignored (help)
  17. ^ Ojumu, Akin (February 16, 2003). "The family that grieves together..." The Guardian. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  18. ^ a b Ehrman, Mark (April 10, 1998). "Stars Are Out for 'Angels,' Dawn Steel". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  19. ^ a b Mooney, Joshua (April 10, 1998). "City of Angels". The Hour. Norwalk, Connecticut. p. C1.
  20. ^ Malone 2010, p. 162.
  21. ^ a b c d Nelson, John (1998). The Making of the Visual Effects for City of Angels (DVD). Sony Pictures Imageworks.
  22. ^ a b Medved & Akiyama 2007, p. 334.
  23. ^ Laing 2007, pp. 35–36.
  24. ^ Laing 2007, p. 42.
  25. ^ "Billboard". 110 (16). Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1 August 1998: 84. Retrieved 28 January 2014. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  26. ^ Rosen, Craig (27 August 1998). "'City' A Set-Up For New Alanis, Goo Goo Dolls Albums". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 14 June 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ a b "'City Of Angels' Flies At Box Office". Chicago Tribune. 13 April 1998. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  28. ^ a b Holden, Stephen (April 10, 1998). "FILM REVIEW; Heaven, He's From Heaven, But His Heart Beats So . . ". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  29. ^ Spurlin, Thomas (February 4, 2014). "City of Angels (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  30. ^ "City of Angels' Takes Wing in Heavenly Opening Weekend". The Los Angeles Times. April 13, 1998. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  31. ^ Detweiler 2017.
  32. ^ Ebert, Roger (April 10, 1998). "CITY OF ANGELS". Rogerebert.com. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  33. ^ Levy, Emanuel (April 6, 1998). "Review: 'City of Angels'". Variety. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  34. ^ Denby, David. "To Live and Fly in L.A." New York. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  35. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (April 16, 1998). "City of Angels". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  36. ^ Clinton, Paul (April 10, 1998). "Review: 'City of Angels' has no spirit". CNN. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  37. ^ O'Sullivan, Michael (April 10, 1998). "'City of Angels': Clipped 'Wings'". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  38. ^ Thomas, William (January 1, 2000). "City Of Angels Review". Empire. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  39. ^ Skarda, Erin (April 6, 2012). "Top 10 On-Screen Depictions of Heaven". Time. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  40. ^ Maltin 2014.
  41. ^ Staff (April 7, 2015). "10 Movie Remakes Involving Auteur Directors". IndieWire. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  42. ^ "The 20 all-time worst movie remakes". MSN. September 6, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  43. ^ "City of Angels (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  44. ^ "City of Angels Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  45. ^ Carter, Brooke (December 29, 2016). "What Happened to Nicolas Cage – News & Updates". Gazette Review. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  46. ^ Riggs 2000, p. 76.
  47. ^ a b Riggs 2004, p. 278.
  48. ^ "City of Angels". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  49. ^ Ryan, Joel (April 20, 1999). "'There's Something About' MTV Movie Awards". E! News. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  50. ^ Laing 2004, p. 164.

Bibliography

  • Culpepper, Scott (2016). "No More Mr. Nice Angel". The Supernatural Revamped: From Timeworn Legends to Twenty-First-Century Chic. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 1611478650. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Detweiler, Craig (2017). "10. Wings of Desire". God in the Movies: A Guide for Exploring Four Decades of Film. Brazos Press. ISBN 1493410598. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Godawa, Brian (2011). Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom & Discernment. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 0830869530. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • King, Mike (2014). "Ghosts, Angels and the Afterlife". Luminous: The Spiritual Life on Film. McFarland. ISBN 1476613230. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Laing, Heather (2004). Gabriel Yared's The English Patient: A Film Score Guide. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810849658. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Laing, Heather (2007). Gabriel Yared's The English Patient: A Film Score Guide. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 1461658810. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Malone, Aubrey (2010). Sacred Profanity: Spirituality at the Movies. Santa Barbara, California, Denver and Oxford: Praeger. ISBN 031337922X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Malpas, Jeff (2008). "Wim Wenders: The Role of Memory". Cinematic Thinking: Philosophical Approaches to the New Cinema. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 080475800X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Maltin, Leonard (2014). Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide. Penguin. ISBN 0698183614. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Marcus, Laura (2015). "The Library in Film: Order and Mystery". The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural History. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 1400865743. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Medved, Harry; Akiyama, Bruce (2007). Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer's Guide to Exploring Southern California's Great Outdoors. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 1429907177. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Riggs, Thomas (2000). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Vol. 31. Cengage Gale. ISBN 0787646369. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Riggs, Thomas (2004). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Cengage Gale. ISBN 0787671010. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Solomons, Gabriel (2011). World Film Locations: Los Angeles. Intellect Books. ISBN 1841504858. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Tate, Andrew (2011). "Angels". Encyclopedia of Religion and Film. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 0313330727. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

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