Angel of Death (2005)

I love this movie so much

Such a frustrating disappointment

Awesome Movie

The first must-see film of the year.

with all the European studios involved in this one, you would think you'd at least get some pretty photography; but the local color is kept to a minimum.Irritation #1 is Mira Sorvino using a Russian accent in order to play a Spanish cop - WTF? The story is hopelessly confused. There's a supposed romantic back story that is intentionally confused - is she or isn't she a lesbian? - serving no purpose whatsoever. The cops in the movie are the most stupid to have graced a serial killer film in a long time. There seems to be some message about the mid-'30s Spanish Civil War But since pretty much everybody involved in that is dead, one doesn't see the point in it.Despite the bull-fighting backdrop of part of the narrative (which part? who can tell), you never even get a good look at a bull fight. Earnest Hemingway would have punched the director in the nose - with my blessings.

This movie has lots going for it. I only wish it had come together better.Several of the performances are subtle and command our full attention. Alida Valli is stark and quietly brilliant as Dona Katrina as she tells her gripping tale from the war. Feodor Atkine is both confused and valiant as he searches for answers to the murders committed by the man in red. While other roles are too subtly played or bungled entirely. Mira Sorvino is adequate as the reflective outsider who is haunted by her past. Olivier Martinez, gives a one dimensional and overplayed role as the tough cop, solving crimes on the mean streets of Sevilla.The cinematography is rife with scenes from Sevilla's rich historic architecture and the contrasts in light and shadow give this film a brooding quality. Filming from various angles during the Easter pageant lends depth as the police narrowly miss observing the murders first hand and totally miss their motive. The action scenes however, often appear as if happening in some other story and don't fully connected to the movement of the plot.I did find this film worth watching to the end if only to find out "who dun-nit". Watch it when you are feeling somber and a little confused.

I could not, for the life of me, follow, figure out or understand the story. As the plot advances it too stays incomprehensible. I'm going to guess and say that there was a preproduction story/plot problem that never got sorted out. The producers could never separate the many details that the novel, or any novel, has the time and space to create from the other idea, which was to make a movie about a serial killer and the killer's pursuit by the police. They ended up with too many things happening in a proscribed feature film time limit. Too bad really because they had a solid cast, a director who knows how to move things around and excellent cinematography. In fact, a well made movie that one could enjoy and relax with for a couple of hours.

This movie sucks big time. It reminded me of the movie Resurrection (Christopher Lambert), which i also found extremely boring. And "Semana Santa" is in every way an even poorer movie.Only fine one in the cast doing something for this movie is Alida Valli. Alida is one of the grand old ladies in european movie history. I loved her maniacal looks in "Suspiria" and "inferno" (Dario Argento). I will not spend more time dealing with this movie. I will say another good thing about this movie...use it if you want to fall asleep very quickly...