Whatever happened to Mickey Rourke? The guy was on top of the world in the 80’s; he was a sex-symbol and A-list actor who even showed up on a David Bowie album. Then, he decided to go back into his original career choice of boxer and it all went down the crapper. Now the guy is rebuilding his career with small cameos and supporting parts and it seems the world has all but forgotten that he was once one of the biggest stars out there. I’m personally a huge fan of Rourke; he doesn’t have the biggest range, but he always picks interesting projects and is always a joy to watch on-screen. Angel Heart is no exception; Rourke is the perfect guy to carry this moody Gothic noir.
Harry Angel (Rourke) is a dishevelled private eye (is there any other kind?) who is approached one day by a eccentric named Louis Cyphre (Robert DeNiro) who asks him to find a disappeared singer named Johnny Favourite. The case takes Angel to New Orleans where he finds many of Favourite’s connections can be found. He meets up with a young woman named Epiphany (Lisa Bonet) who’s involved in bizarre voodoo practices with an old blues singer by the name of Toots Sweet (Brownie McGhee). Sweet is found dead soon thereafter, and Angel finds out that voodoo is the least of his problems.
The first half of the film unfolds like a generic detective thriller; it’s almost too generic at times, but it picks up wonderfully in its bizarre, moody second half. There’s so much atmosphere injected in here that you barely notice it. Through relatively simple editing and lighting tricks, director Alan Parker creates a rich, creepy atmosphere of excess that many movies would kill to achieve. Knowing that Parker is the director of Pink Floyd’s The Wall (which is the very definition of stylistic excess), you begin to understand and accept the flourishes (such as the blood-soaked sex scene that created an uproar at the time of release) as being integral to the story.
The film also has a certain bitter, cynical sense of humor that’s more than welcome in a film of its ilk. One must only look as far as Robert DeNiro to see this. DeNiro’s role is rather small; he’s only in the movie for about 10 minutes… but what a ten minutes. DeNiro is at his calmest, creepiest here; there’s no room for excess here. Wearing a neat beard, slicked hair and long fingernails, DeNiro channels Martin Scorsese and positively rocks the screen. He dispenses one liners like “No matter how cleverly you sneak up on a mirror, your reflection always looks you straight in the eye” in a brilliantly hushed tone, creating a complete opposite to his absolutely insane Al Capone in that same year’s The Untouchables.
The first half of the film, however, is not the only thing that’s familiar. Anyone who’s remotely clever has analysed (or will analyse) the name of DeNiro’s character and figured out what it really means (out of respect to those who are bad at puns and need practice, I won’t reveal it; the secret was spoiled to me by my dad, who thought this movie was Blue Velvet). The ending poses a few problems as well; it’s a twist ending that was probably quite shocking in 㣻 but is now easier to see coming. I can’t really hold it against the film that I didn’t see it earlier, because the ending works in any case, but it still detracts from the film.
As I said above, I’m a big fan of Rourke. He has (or had, I don’t know what the hell is up with it now) such an interesting face that just watching him do something mundane is fascinating. He looks tired and burnt-out; his face alone speaks volumes. While it’s true that he doesn’t have a lot of range (save his cameo in Animal Factory), there are few contemporary actors who can play ‘burnt-out tough guy’ as well as he does. Lisa Bonet (a former Cosby kid) is terrific as the mysterious Epiphany. Although most of the ink she got was for her revealing sex scene with Rourke, many failed to mention that her performance is actually quite good. Also worth noting is Charlotte Rampling as the psychic who knew Favourite in a past life.
Despite initial appearences, Angel Heart is much more than a typical Louisiana detective story. It actually owes more to the horror genre (stylistically speaking) than to the neo-noir genre. It’s somewhat slipped through the cracks where other movies have not, possibly because Mickey Rourke was off the face of the earth for many years, but (like Rourke’s Year of the Dragon and Johnny Handsome) it’s a distinctly off-beat and interesting piece of 80’s cinema that’s very much worth seeing.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: VHS Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Through the footsteps of its lead character, Harry Angel, a down-and-out fifties Brooklyn gumshoe, Alan Parker s film Angel Heart takes us on a journe...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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