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Angela

1995

A ten year old girl named Angela leads her six year old sister, Ellie, through various regimens of 'purification' in an attempt to rid themselves of their evil, which she believes to be the cause of their mother's mental illness. Precocious, to say the least, Angela has visions of Lucifer coming to take her and her sister away, and one of her remedies for this is for them to remain within a circle of their dolls and toys until they see a vision of the virgin Mary come to them. But such thinking can only lead to an ending befitting of her own mental state.

Miranda Rhyne Charlotte Eve Blythe Anna Thomson John Ventimiglia iO Tillett Wright Vincent Gallo Ruth Maleczech Garrett Bemer Peter Facinelli Hynden Walch Henry Stram Caitlin Hall Francis Conroy Gerard Lyons III Rodger L. Phillips William McKnight Jack O'Connell Nurith Cohn Constance McCord Roxana Stuart

Alternative Titles

Ángela, Анджела, Анжела, 天使坠落人间

Genre

Drama

Premiere

20 Jan 1995

USA Sundance Film Festival

Theatrical limited

26 Jan 1996

USANR

USA

20 Jan 1995

Premiere Sundance Film Festival

26 Jan 1996

Theatrical limitedNR

99 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by single white femalien ★★★★★ 3

as a former sad lonely strange child with a mentally ill mother (and present sad lonely strange adult who is now mentally ill herself...) i really loved this. a+ recommend
Review by fuguette ★★★½

I believe I found this on someone's horror film list somewhere, so I was expecting spiritual torment from a child's eye view. The summary—which is accurate—combined with that ominous poster, certainly suggest something sinister. To my surprise, though, this film is produced with a touch as light and pink as cotton candy. The feminine pastels remind me of Barbara Loden's Wanda or Sofia Coppola's best visuals in Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette.
The theme is more female-centric than demon-dwelling, focusing on the guilt and self-destruction particular to women and their society/sexual expectations. Angela tries both to absolve her mother's sins and condemn her for them, something I think many girls with disturbed mothers go through. I can remember the salvation…
Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★

Criterion Channel, film #2
I feel bad for not liking this more. My favorite film by the director was the documentary she directed on her father, Arthur Miller: Writer. The actors were lacking for me (mostly). After watching the film, I read the credits which said Vincent Gallo played "the preacher". I had to go back to the baptism scene. Sure, he preaches for a little bit. Then, when he's baptizing some children (wild, right?), the camera is behind him to show the reaction of the crowd; we don't even see his face. So, why use a decent actor if you're not even going to showcase him?
The character of "Angela" seems like a representation of director Rebecca Miller. The…
Review by Sally Jane Black

Slightly sensationalized, perhaps, though there is a certain realistic vibe given to this by the low fidelity nature of the work; empathetic, certainly, though the intertwining traumas could be taken as more damaging to the represented mental illnesses presented here. Placing this in the point of view of a child, though, plants the film in a perspective that distorts what we see anyway--this is mental illness through a child's eyes. The highlights of Angela's mother's bipolar (or similar illness) are the manic states where she dresses like Marilyn Monroe and the depressive ones where she declares she doesn't feel anything for her children. The misinterpretations, the scary moments, the damaging moments. The highlights of Angela's own mental illness are vivid…
Review by Julia Grohlo🇨🇦 🇻🇳 ★★★½ 3

Criterion Collection
A kid seeking answers to her questions in a kind of trip between her mentally ill mother and the overdose of religious stuff that's been forced into her head. It's just wild, the atmosphere is totally creepy, and to explain a film like this, I'm freaking out because I have no idea how to talk about it. It's the most disturbing film I've ever watched in the Criterion collection (Female Gaze) Vincent Gallo as Lucifer is frightening and apparently it's autobiographical. Looking back, I'm grateful to have a sane family.
Review by Lizzy Deane ★★★★ 1

Mary saving mothers. Miller captures the distinct pocket dimension of rural cityscapes, so many rusted houses that they stack to something bigger than life, with such a painter’s eye that it’s easy to raise your head above water admiring it, but nothing quite prepares you for how stark this is as a dysfunctional family portrait. The Deep South is a hotbed for untreated mental illness because it’s one of the most thoroughly abandoned economic sections of the U.S., so absent from the concerns of capital that those with mental illness are sabotaged before they’re even diagnosed, and religion is so deeply dug into all the dirt of the local stomping grounds that the Virgin Mary is the only guide. A beacon for when all other points of support have evaporated on a hot, muggy day. Bonus points for giving grace to what most mental illness stories don’t: the illness is the villain, not the person.
Review by laurie 2

soft, muted tones
gauzy light
floral wallpaper
dolls strewn about
rotting wood
chipping paint
talking to a black cat on heaps of newspaper
junk in the yard
secrets
pastoral fairground
mud baths
moths fluttering at windowpanes
river baptisms
magical thinking
angels and demons
Angela as in Angela Carter, no?
Review by Emalie ★★★★

sad these girls didn't do much else acting-wise after this, they were so sweet and good.
Review by ItsLV ★★★★★

Raw and real. Beautiful and ugly. Vincent Gallo cameo.
Review by Cressa Maeve Áine ★★★★★

There’s so much I want to say and I don’t know how to say it. This is an unbelievably special little movie that I clicked with so intensely. Reminiscent of Celine Sciamma and Saint Maud and early Gus Van Sant and Lynne Ramsay and also somehow a smidge of Pan's Labyrinth - this would be Angela: a tranquil and dreamy blend of coming of age and adolescent self destructive obsession with flourishes of magic. I don’t mean to constantly do that film snob thing of “it’s this director doing this other film” but I really haven’t seen a movie like this before yet I’ve seen so many that clearly took influence, or at least brushed into the same lane. The…
Review by coolbrag ★★★★★

Rarely do we see the inner workings of children’s superstitions & the belief that one could make their parents happy by creating spells. To run away & experience a “sign” to return only to find an emptiness that these girls can live with with clenched jaws. A beautiful story, wonderful shots throughout.
(Favorite scene features Vincent Gallo as a priest & she asks “can you do it again?” and he sends her away)
Review by Manny Liotta ★★★★

I randomly found this whilst shuffling on The Criterion Channel at 1:30am, mind you I’m 5 margaritas deep, drunk as a sailor, and I found this and said fuck it — terrible idea. This shit is more depressing than my life story. Its also legit horrifying at times? There’s a scene at a carnival that has to be seen to believed. It’s got fantasy scenes that tripped my brain out but then the melodrama flies in from the sudden sky and BAM. If Mid90s & Kids fucked The Virgin Suicides. The ending..... I don’t even know what the fuck to say or feel. It is beyond depressing and insane and shocking. But that last LAST scene? Whewwwwy, that was trippy. My eyes glowed.