Angela

UPC: 767685952139

Studio: New Video Group

Summary: Two children from a working-class family in New York struggle to understand the story of God versus Lucifer as they try to deal with a mentally ill mother in this intense, realistic, spiritual drama. Angela is ten-years-old and has visions of angels. She spends much of her time trying to comprehend the tale of God and Lucifer. She also tries to protect her baby sister, six-year-old, Ellie by cautioning her to stay clean and good lest the Devil take her away. Ellie and Angela have been moved several times in their life. Their father, Andrew, is a hard worker; their mother, Mae, is becoming increasingly mentally ill. The children frequently witness her outbursts, but can do nothing to stop her sad descent. Sometimes Angela spies on them as they make love. After Mae is finally placed in an institution the girls must spend many hours on their own. At one point they assist their pregnant sitter when her water breaks. At another they manage to get away from a child molester at a carnival. In the final scene, Angela decides to baptize herself in the river and finally finds the transformation she sought. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Filmmaker's Trophy: Dramatic – Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker's Trophy – Sundance Film Festival

Features: Audio commentary from filmmaker Rebecca Miller
Crew biographies
Interactive menus
Scene selection

Angela

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 11/26/2002

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Runtime: 99 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Moving Day [6:48]
2. Fresh Souls [10:52]
3. Clean Inside [7:23]
4. The Virgin [7:52]
5. A Good Week [10:19]
6. Outside the Circle [6:36]
7. The Babysitter [8:58]
8. Following the Signs [9:10]
9. The Big Nothing [8:33]
10. Baptism [9:49]
11. The Way to Heaven [5:46]
12. The River [9:35]

Andrea LeVasseur

Slow-moving and dreamlike, writer/director Rebecca Miller's debut feature Angela is a stylized drama about childhood that follows the dream logic of a darkly emphatic ten-year-old with a mentally ill mother. Angela's (Miranda Stuart Rhyne) spiritual quest is taken very seriously, entitling her to manifested visions, plenty of silent brooding, and rambling monologues about made-up rituals. Though she gives a great performance, Rhyne is just too much of a regular kid to be convincing as a religious freak. The back story and time period are left ambiguous; instead the scenes flow like traces of memories leaving much implausibility. Though it requires patience to appreciate, the random images (a white pony, a runaway roller skate) and bizarre occurrences (a makeover booth at a carnival, a Barbie thrown from a window) can be pieced together as a sensitive picture of an intense young girl. What's troubling is how Angela's mother, Mae (Anna Thomson), influences her and how Angela, in turn, influences her impressionable little sister, Ellie (Charlotte Blythe). It's interesting to note that the costuming and behavior of Mae suggests a disintegrating Marilyn Monroe, since the director's father, Arthur Miller, was married to the real-life Marilyn Monroe until 1961, a year before her death. The relevance of this family connection is not made clear in the narrative; like so much else in the film, it's left to the viewer's imagination and level of involvement. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Anna Levine  Actor 
Hynden Walch  Actor 
Rebecca Miller  Director 
Rebecca Miller  Screenwriter 
Ron Kastner  Producer 
Michael Rohatyn  Composer (Music Score) 
Lemore Syvan  Producer 
John Ventimiglia  Actor 
Miranda Stuart Rhyne  Actor 
Charlotte Blythe  Actor 
Vincent Gallo  Actor 
Ruth Maleczech  Actor 

Country: USA