City of Angels

A Hollywood remake of Wings of Desire, directed by the man who gave us Casper. The mind boggles. But elegant direction, luscious camerawork, a mostly unsentimental script, and sterling performances from the stars turns this into be an honourable effort - at least until the last 20 minutes, when the movie goes spectacularly off the rails. Seth (Cage, charismatic) is one of many angels who wander LA listening in to people's thoughts, trying to allay their anxieties, and, when death rears its head, leading them 'home'. He sees heart surgeon Maggie (Ryan) fighting to save a patient: when she fails, he's struck by her sadness, guilt and sense of confusion, and - already wondering what it would be like to experience taste, smell, touch, tears and transient joy - falls so in love that he begins to make himself visible to her. This is funnier than Wenders' version, and it also succeeds in visualising LA as a magical city while dealing intelligently with the themes of mortality, sacrifice, free will, and the mixed blessings of the human condition.