Looking for an Angel (1999) User Reviews

Beautiful but ultimately too personal

[mosurataksaichan · 6/10 · 2 May 2021]

I came across this film per chance, wanting to watch a fairly short feature length film as I was quite tired. I didn't really know what to expect from its vague biography but essentially this is a story about a kind and joyful gay man who ends up dead as a result of many things, mainly being ostracized as an outsider. It is assumed that he is killed by a casual pick-up. His story is retold by his two best friends who had visited him after being sent back to his hometown to live with his father (of whom share a strange relationship). However the story is fragmented and quite confusing just like the true meaning of the film, shedding light on multiple perspectives and multiple random characters. Long scenes of Japanese landscapes or sex scenes tie these narrative scenes together alongside a somber but upbeat instrumental used multiple times. Yes, this film is minimal in its imagery but it has a real personal charm to it, it's narrative clearly rooted in reality. And the final scene, which portrays the dead character moments before his death, has a haunting monologue that truly encapsulates his feelings of loss and hopelessness. Check it out!

Deep, raw pain

[ksivonci-911-192388 · 9/10 · 9 February 2022]

It's a movie that rejects every and any stipulation of commercial cinema. In many moments, one has feeling as if one sits in a living room, listening to the conversations held over projection of amateur homemade footage taken with hand-held 8-mm camera, out of focus, shot at lowest speed to capture as much as possible onto this so restricted media, and due to this granular images projected on the wall flicker.

Yet, precisely this technical "inadequacy" is the one that ensures necessary distance from palpable reality, in order to be able to dive into pain that it is not possible to elicit otherwise.