Angel HeartA private investigator like Harold Angel (Mickey Rourke) is responsible for discovering the truth by seeking out hidden details...and as they say, the devil's in the details. When Harry is hired by the sinister Louis Cyphre (Robert DeNiro) to discover the whereabouts of one "Johnny Favorite", his investigations take him into the proverbial heart of darkness, from New York to New Orleans, into varied places and encountering people who were acquainted with his mysterious quarry. But along the way, those who had dealings with the reported amnesiac crooner suddenly befall grim tidings, and Harry finds himself caught in a labyrinthine plot, one that threatens more than just his life--his very soul may be on the line.
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Angel Heart begins much like any pulp detective story would, but the transformation from mere gumshoe serial to supernatural horror story begins early, following Harry's recruitment by his well-dressed benefactor. Louis Cyphre (whose name should conjure some idea of his barely concealed malevolence) is insidious from the start, twirling his cane like a serpent that cranes its neck, between his claw-like fingernails. He is rarely seen early on, but often felt, appearing more as the story reaches the conclusion. He is soft-spoken, occasionally speaking in aphorisms, sly and cynical observations about humanity and religion. And his menacing mien always seems to allude to thinly-veiled threats. Harry wears the look of a private eye whose seen a lot, although he claims he principally does "small-time jobs". He is quick with a quip, and has a pretty good idea when someone is trying to get one over on him. Harry doesn't come across as an evil man, but he has his tough guy moments which sometimes bank on the side of macabre, like striking a match on the bottom of a dead guy's loafer. He is morally flexible enough to take on Cyphre's job, even though one suspects it leaves him with a pit in his stomach which grows deeper and deeper. Even following Cyphre's acquisition of Harry for his services, Harry Angel begins to experience vivid waking dreams--chilling hallucinations which become more and more grim and even violent, as if some message was clawing at his soul, trying to tear its way out. Early into the investigation, a former doctor of Johnny Favorite's named Dr. Albert Fowler (Michael Higgins) dies violently following Harry's visit to learn where Johnny went and when, and Harry is spooked enough to try to escape his contract with Cyphre, who in turn responds by offering to pay him a ridiculous sum to continue. Should Harry have walked away, no matter the money? One suspects that Harry is an inquisitive type, desperate to solve a puzzle--hence his profession--and against his better judgment, allows himself to be tempted by the proposition of discovering the answer to who this mysterious crooner missing these twelve years really is. His doomed inquisitiveness is reminiscent of Jake Gittes in Chinatown; both private eyes should know better than to poke their noses into dangerous affairs, but they are led by a compulsion to see some semblance of order restored by answering the riddle posed to them, even if it draws them deeper into the undertow of a conspiracy they can't fully comprehend.
Although Angel Heart is set in 1955, its tone is less like that of a period piece, sharing more in common with the kind of highly stylized neo-noir thrillers which populated the films of the 1980s like this one. The resulting anachronistic tone is one of many elements designed to unsettle the audience. Infused with the spirit of the occult, the presence of darkness is ubiquitous in Angel Heart, with a tone that is forbidding and ominous. Long shadows stretch across many scenes, as do elements throughout suggesting a passage into Hell for Harry Angel, including moments where he descends staircases and dreams of riding an elevator down and down, deeper into some noir underworld. Even as his investigation progresses, he migrates south from New York to New Orleans, trading the cold winter for the heat in a land down below. Eerie music creeps through the score, including the haunting wail of a saxophone, or the chilling sound of a heartbeat, both priming our nerves for some dire evil to sink its teeth into us. Angel Heart is a film that is persistently tense, and everything feels a bit dirty, unclean; the film never tries to convince us that anything is untainted in this world. Visual motifs like a lazily spinning fan often portends death, and even Harry's alektorophobia--fear of chickens--is later suggested to have associations with the voodoo practices he witnesses in New Orleans. The presence of voodoo is first hinted at when Harry discovers that a Harlem pastor has a secret interest in the practice, an appetizer for the unusual practices to come before he makes his way from the Big Apple to the Big Easy. Grabbing at every lead, he eventually comes across a pretty young girl named Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet), whose mother was Johnny Favorite's lover, and who has inherited her mother's role as a voodoo practitioner, engaging in wild, bloody rituals in the woods by the light of a bonfire. She tells Harry that her pregnancy with her boy was the result of "cheval", or--in other words--that the conception was the result of the voodoo gods. Harry claims to be an atheist, but he meets Cyphre in a church at one point, who coyly observes as much when Harry uses obscene language. Harry also notes that since he took this case, there has been the pervading presence of religion all around him, in so many varied forms. What Harry doesn't yet see is that he is a pawn in a larger game played by forces beyond mortal comprehension, and that only as he stands closer to the game at hand is he made aware of the key player's moves, the breath of the devil himself on his neck.
Recommended for: Fans of a dark detective story, saturated with voodoo and the supernatural. Angel Heart is a delightfully creepy film, unnerving the audience with a stylized neo-noir vibe and gothic elements throughout.
Although Angel Heart is set in 1955, its tone is less like that of a period piece, sharing more in common with the kind of highly stylized neo-noir thrillers which populated the films of the 1980s like this one. The resulting anachronistic tone is one of many elements designed to unsettle the audience. Infused with the spirit of the occult, the presence of darkness is ubiquitous in Angel Heart, with a tone that is forbidding and ominous. Long shadows stretch across many scenes, as do elements throughout suggesting a passage into Hell for Harry Angel, including moments where he descends staircases and dreams of riding an elevator down and down, deeper into some noir underworld. Even as his investigation progresses, he migrates south from New York to New Orleans, trading the cold winter for the heat in a land down below. Eerie music creeps through the score, including the haunting wail of a saxophone, or the chilling sound of a heartbeat, both priming our nerves for some dire evil to sink its teeth into us. Angel Heart is a film that is persistently tense, and everything feels a bit dirty, unclean; the film never tries to convince us that anything is untainted in this world. Visual motifs like a lazily spinning fan often portends death, and even Harry's alektorophobia--fear of chickens--is later suggested to have associations with the voodoo practices he witnesses in New Orleans. The presence of voodoo is first hinted at when Harry discovers that a Harlem pastor has a secret interest in the practice, an appetizer for the unusual practices to come before he makes his way from the Big Apple to the Big Easy. Grabbing at every lead, he eventually comes across a pretty young girl named Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet), whose mother was Johnny Favorite's lover, and who has inherited her mother's role as a voodoo practitioner, engaging in wild, bloody rituals in the woods by the light of a bonfire. She tells Harry that her pregnancy with her boy was the result of "cheval", or--in other words--that the conception was the result of the voodoo gods. Harry claims to be an atheist, but he meets Cyphre in a church at one point, who coyly observes as much when Harry uses obscene language. Harry also notes that since he took this case, there has been the pervading presence of religion all around him, in so many varied forms. What Harry doesn't yet see is that he is a pawn in a larger game played by forces beyond mortal comprehension, and that only as he stands closer to the game at hand is he made aware of the key player's moves, the breath of the devil himself on his neck.
Recommended for: Fans of a dark detective story, saturated with voodoo and the supernatural. Angel Heart is a delightfully creepy film, unnerving the audience with a stylized neo-noir vibe and gothic elements throughout.