Angel Heart (1987)
“I’ve got a thing about chickens.”
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Synopsis: |
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Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:
Review:
… with mystical forces which become ever-darker as the storyline proceeds. Central to the film’s positing of the world as filled with danger and menace is the oh-so-perfect casting of De Niro as the Devil (while his identity isn’t stated outright until later on, it’s obvious enough that it can’t really be considered an early spoiler).
We know — even if O’Rourke doesn’t — that he’s being sent on a mission to find someone who has reneged on a soul-swapping bargain. The details become much more complex, but we’re able to follow along well enough to make emergent sense of both what happened in the past — there is liberal use of cryptic flashbacks — and what’s currently unfolding. (Click here for an intriguing 25-minute video analysis.) Along his travails, O’Rourke first visits an asylum, where he sweet-talks a nurse (Kathleen Wilhoite):
… into divulging information that allows him to track down a heroin-addicted doctor (Michael Higgins) in New York.
He takes a trip to Coney Island:
… before travelling down to New Orleans, where he encounters a beautiful young mother (Lisa Bonet):
… witnesses all kinds of voodoo magic:
… is trailed by a couple of cops (Eliott Keener and Pruitt Taylor Vince):
… books an appointment with a beautiful middle-aged tarot reader (Charlotte Rampling):
… meets a blues singer called Toots Sweet (real-life musician Brownie McGhee):
… and falls for Bonet. (This film was notorious for earning an X rating due to a sexually explicit scene between O’Rourke and Bonet, forcing Parker to remove 10 seconds of footage in exchange for an R.) Be forewarned that there’s plenty of increasingly dark imagery throughout this film, but O’Rourke is appropriately repulsed by it all, and it builds to a satisfying denouement. This one remains worth a look. Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:
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One thought on “Angel Heart (1987)”
Rewatch 5/7/21. Not must-see – though cult film fans may want to have a look.
Parker’s neo-noir film gets points for its atmosphere / period detail / production design. The look of the film goes a long way in making it effective – although it’s one of those rare times while watching a film that I had a very strong sense of just how everything was storyboarded, so spontaneity seems lacking.
As well… this is also the kind of film in which it feels as though the ending was concocted and then it was a matter of working backwards to lead everything up to it. The lead-up is a s-l-o-w burn and usually that kind of burn requires that each step of the way be rather compelling. But some scenes have better pacing than others.
It’s not a film I particularly much care for but De Niro (who reportedly couldn’t stand Rourke) seems to be enjoying his role as someone who knows the secret all along and savors the cat-and-mouse aspect of having it unveiled.
Fave line is De Niro’s: “They say there’s just enough religion in the world to make men hate each other, but not enough to make them love.”