Toward the end of Wings of Desire, in a nightclub as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform, the angel Cassiel leans against the wall with his eyes closed; he is still, but the stage lights makes his shadow pulsate, expanding and contracting as if something is trying to decide whether or not to emerge (which something is), and it may be the most beautiful moment of cinema ever.

1. Made all the more beautiful by the fact that it is immediately followed by one of the most awkwardly delivered monologues in movie history, which deflates a wonderful, wonderful baloon.

   Wings of Desire (lousy title, btw. The original: “The Sky over Berlin” is much better) is a flawed masterpiece, brilliant because of, not in spite of, its not-quite-thereness. But I still can’t bring myself to like the monologue.

   But… That scene with the dying motorist, for instance, or the library shots, or those walks through the city in rubble with Homer. Ahhh.

   
   

   — Martin · Feb 28, 06:21 AM    #

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