I still haven't decided what I am going to do yet, but I shall tell you about this film and why I so want to watch it. However, to do so I am going have to start with something completely different - a song.
The song is called Iris, and its by the Goo Goo Dolls. It's a lovely song that was written for a film called City of Angels (1998) starring Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan, about a doctor and an angel who falls in love with her.
The song made me aware of the film, which sounded interesting. So when instead I came across the film City of Angels was based on, Wings of Desire (1987), or The Sky Over Berlin if you want the original title, by Wim Wender, I decided to watch it - and it was brilliant.
Wings of Desire is a German film, set in 80's Berlin, and the story is, again, that an angel falls for a human woman.
It is a long film - it is two hours long, though I watched it over two nights - it's slow and reflective in pace and is full of long periods of poetic dialogue, and its nearly all in German. So honestly, if you want something fast paced, with lots of explosions, go watch something else.
Nonetheless, it is full of fantastic moments, ideas and characters. The angels in Berlin wander about in long coats, listening to people's thoughts, comforting them and recording little bits of wonder in their notebooks. Berlin is shot in black and white for the angels, and somehow this makes it look beautiful, even though the city is dirty and graffiti covered - its a realistic sort of beauty.
There's also a really good storyline involving Peter Falk, who plays himself!
The whole film seems to me, to be about life and its little simple wonders, about how we can get lost in our own emotions and about the sadness of life as well - its hard to describe, without writing an essay, and I am already dangerously heading that way with this post!
Anyway, the film was fantastic, I loved it, was inspired by it, and then at the very end the words "To Be Continued..." flashed up on screen.
I couldn't believe it! There was a sequel? It is one of the first times the idea of a film sequel actually made me feel excited, rather than apprehensive.
The sequel is called Faraway, So Close! (1993) and I have being trying to find it ever since. Unfortunately it hasn't been easy to get hold of a reasonably priced DVD that works in this country. Hopefully, something will turn up...
