Angel of Mine Blu-ray Review
ANGEL OF MINE is the story of a woman on the edge. Lizzie, played by Noomi Rapace (the original Lisbeth Salander), is on her own and her ex-husband is threatening to take full custody of their son because of her ‘darkness’. We start the film wondering why and what exactly is happening, and we slowly realize that Lizzie and her ex, played by Luke Evans, lost their second child in a tragic accident and Lizzie has never been the same. But when Lizzie sees another child who she thinks is her deceased daughter, she begins to go to further and further lengths to get back what she’s lost, believing in what she feels more than what she sees around her.
ANGEL OF MINE is a brilliantly suspenseful dramatic thriller, a story that builds around the unraveling of the protagonist as we watch Rapace’s Lizzie come apart at the seams. It’s a fairly universal story in the way that it is put together around the death of a child and dealing with that grief. From that aspect it is absolutely NOT for someone who has experienced some trauma of the same ilk, as this film is difficult to watch as a parent… I can’t imagine watching it if I had lost a child. Playing opposite Rapace is Yvonne Strahovski as the parent of the young child Lizzie believes to be her daughter, and Strahovski’s Claire becomes a protective Mama Bear quickly when needed when she feels her family is under attack.
At the center of the film are these two female characters and they are fantastic in their performances. Supporting them are two strong men as well. Evans is authentic and emotional and watching him in a role like this after some of his ‘alpha’ roles is quite nice. Claire’s husband is played by Richard Roxburgh, another great actor playing against type. Both of these performances offer counterpoint to the female leads and offer authentic response to what they see happening before them, even when they should be reacting more fiercely.
Second-time filmmaker Kim Farrant directs ANGEL OF MINE and did a phenomenal job with casting bringing this script to the screen. Like any thriller, there are moments when you might wonder why the character chooses to react in the way they do – in horror movies it’s the “don’t go back inside” feeling. While that happens a couple of times in this movie, for the most part everything is played with honestly, which helps convey the reality of the situation – that we are witnessing one family reaching bottom while another is just beginning to unravel. It’s quite unnerving and makes you wonder how you would react if you were in the same shoes.
To that end, while I don’t agree with all of the choices in ANGEL OF MINE – for example, why isn’t the therapist DOING anything!!?! – the premise and execution of the film is pretty solid. While the screenwriting could have used a few touch-ups here and there, the pacing is tight and the characters all have arcs (some bigger than others) throughout the film. My only major complaint is with the middle third of the film where some moments are played a bit too heavily for my taste, and it becomes difficult to continue to sympathize with Rapace’s character. Still, that may have been intentional. While ANGEL OF MINE isn’t for everyone, I can recommend it to those who aren’t turned off by the subject matter.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p; 2.39:1) The video presentation is pretty well done with some interesting shots and nice use of light and dark, but honestly ANGEL OF MINE is pretty straight-forward visually. It works and the digital transfer looks great.
Audio: (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1) The audio track for ANGEL OF MINE is competently done but there isn’t much here to put things through any difficulty. It just sounds good.
Making ANGEL OF MINE (09:38) Kim Farrant, Noomi Rapace, Yvonne Strahovski, Luke Evans, and others talk about why they got involved in ANGEL OF MINE. Don’t watch this before the movie as there are major spoilers.
Cast/Crew Interviews (30:06) This section of the disc includes interviews with Kim Farrant – Director, Noomi Rapace, Yvonne Strahovski, Luke Evans, Richard Roxburgh, and Annika Whiteley. These are partly the interviews used to put together the special feature above and they’re a bit weirdly cut together, but they’re still very interesting and provide a lot of nice little details.
ANGEL OF MINE comes with a Digital Copy of the film as well.