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Angela

-- Video Business, 11/6/2002

Color, NR (mature themes, nudity, language), 99 min, VHS $24.95, DVD $19.95

Street: Nov. 26, Prebook: now

DVD: director's commentary

Cast: Anna Thomson (Fast Food, Fast Women), John Ventimiglia (TV's The Sopranos), Miranda Stuart Rhyne (Walking and Talking), Charlotte Blythe,

Vincent Gallo (Downtown 81),

Frances Conroy (TV's Six Feet Under)

Director: Rebecca Miller

NEW VIDEO

Story Line: A move to a new neighborhood wreaks havoc in the lives of two young sisters (Rhyne, Blythe). First, the girls' dotty mother (Thomson) suffers a mental breakdown, and then the elder sister is consumed by a series of religious visions.

Bottom Line: This 1995 theatrical release is the kind of highly symbolic drama that will either affect viewers emotionally or leave them completely cold. The titular character has repeated encounters with a benevolent fallen angel. The girls believe their crusty old neighbor to be another celestial being, and both sisters conduct various rituals to wash away their perceived sins. All the while, they exist in a timeless world, best exemplified by their parents: Their hip dad sports a '90s-style "soul patch," while their mom is a faded Marilyn Monroe type (all the more striking, considering that director Miller is the daughter of famed playwright Arthur). Viewers looking for a contemporary equivalent of the Southern coming-of-age tales written by Carson McCullers, Harper Lee and Flannery O'Connor will be the most receptive audience for Angela. ----Ed Grant

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