Wings of Desire

It's in German (and some French, and a few words in English) with English subtitles. Don't be scared off by that. You might wish to be wary of some brief nudity towards the beginning, though.

This film, featuring the bitter tones of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and live performances also from Crime and the City Solution, captured tone - a difficult tone - somewhere between a joyous awakening and the pain of separation. The film moved slowly, eventually fluxuating between black and white and color film. Images carefully cut onto the screen and dubbed with deep thoughts stay to be digested, rather than glimpsed at and assimilated only by a subconscious. The symbolisms and situations, heavy as they are, come to rest in a film that unlike American movies doesn't rush headlong into a teary ending but instead paces steadily, balancing disparate elements like a circus performer.

The ending, rather than rejoicing in the happiness of one character, or wallowing in sorrow, actually finds a bitter-sweet center, a place where the past and the future reconcile. It's a place Germany has been searching for for a long time.

Although not the star, Peter Falk gave an endearing performance. I like him the more.

Although the American film "City of Angels" was obviously based on this German production, like most American remakes of foreign films, I suspect it to be much too heavy-handed, and I'm patently refusing to see it.