WINGS OF DESIRE (1987)

Being an uneducated dummy who enjoys arthouse cinema has its fair share of problems. One issue is I’m not smart enough to properly express my feelings about the films I watch. Another is I most likely miss details while watching the movies because I’m too stupid to notice them. But luckily nobody reads this shit, so I'll just plow ahead anyway! Yaaay! Duuuurrrr.

Two (male) angels hang around Berlin, Germany all day and night listening to people’s thoughts and trying to comfort them. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they don’t. These two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, have been alive for millennia, but they cannot actually touch things, feel weather or be seen. As the film progresses, one of the angels, Damiel, begins to have thoughts that he wants to become a human so he can experience all the horrible, shitty, wretched aspects of being a human. Here’s a free piece of advice: don’t do it, being a human fucking suuuuuuuucks.

WINGS OF DESIRE is a fascinating trip back to 1980’s arthouse. I love the look of the film, it’s absolutely gorgeous and maybe even constructed to be a love letter to Berlin, kinda like those scenes in MANHATTAN and HANNAH AND HER SISTERS are love letters to New York City, but what do I know? The other highlight of the film is the way it presents humans’ inner dialogues. As the angels walk among groups of people, the spoken dialogue shifts non-stop all over the place, it’s very well made and honestly sounds like it would be hell to experience. Film-making aspects aside, another great thing about WINGS OF DESIRE is all of the thoughts and questions it conjures up in the viewer’s mind. I’ve seen WOD a few times over the years and every time I’m left for days thinking about what exactly it is to be a human and my place in humanity as a whole. I'm also curious about the angel beings in this film universe because all of the ones in this movie seem to be white adult males. So can there be angels of other races? Overweight angels? Trans angels? Bulimic angels? Angels with missing limbs? I'm just curious.

Deliberately slow pace, absolutely gorgeous camerawork, a Nick Cave sighting, awesome use of colours and lack of colours, 1986’s LEGAL EAGLES on a movie theater marquee, strong acting, a Suicidal Tendencies t-shirt, a runtime that maybe went a little long. Overall, WINGS OF DESIRE is an above average film, but it's lost some of its emotional power since its original release in 1987. Still, it's worth checking out for those curious.

Part 2 - Faraway, So Close! (1993)
Remake - City of Angels (1998)

POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN (1983)

"Arthur longed for that sexual scent that smelled like home."

Unless you’re a highly paid film critic like myself, then there's little reason for you to sit through all of POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN. Yeah, it’s only 12 minutes long (or 10:25 if you discount the end credits), but even then nothing cool happens after the first few minutes.

Two young women are at the mall doing a little shopping when they notice that they are being stalked by a creepy dude. Even worse...he’s not attractive! Barf. Instead of telling the suede/denim secret police that an uncool guy is breathing, they simply leave, but the unattractive guy follows them because he is longing “…for that sexual scent that smelled like home.” Sounds reasonable enough.

The first four minutes of POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN are awesome and maybe even ahead of its time. Hell, I can’t think of anything off the top of my silly clowny clown clown head that was like it before 1983. That said, the rest of the film was like watching a recording of a boring dream that I forgot about because it was so boring.

As far as the story goes, I’m not even going to attempt to tell you what it means. I have no clue. The acting is what it is and the look of the film is fun to watch. Overall, I’m very happy that POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN was made. (I was even fortunate enough recently to see it in a movie theater.) If you have a curious nature, then the first half is perfect enough to endure the boredom of the second half.