The Face of an Angel

So at first I thought this movie was going to bring some insight on what truly happened to Elizabeth (based on the murder of Meredith Kercher in 2007), but then... no. Nothing is said about the case, not even discussed, just merely presented in a conversation inside a car (that seemed pulled out of an article from Wikipedia). Then I started wondering if the movie was about the deterioration of the filmmaker's (portrayed by Daniel Brühl - meh.) mental health, but then... also no. He just has these weird dreams about killing and being killed, and that's pretty much it. Then random things start to happen, such as the dull appearance of Cara Delevingne, and a mysterious Italian writer who seems to know too much of what happened at the night of the murder, and the filmmaker's relationship with a journalist who wrote a book about the case. But nothing really happened and none of theses things become the focus of the plot. This movie is about nothing. It isn't even intriguing, or makes you wonder about the truth. It's just plain boring and makes you stare at the clock as the minutes go by.

The Face of an Angel, is first of all, not a very great film. It has its flaws, the pacing for example, is not griping enough for one to keep on watching even for a pretending-to-be crime thriller. But undeniably, it is unique kind of a film, and like Walter Raleigh says, "it is adulterated, sanded poetry that makes the best lectures". I never read the book though, so I only feel what the film lead me to. and i have to admit, it is pretty remarkable, give or take. The story is centered around a crime solving: two roommates, Elizabeth the good angelic one is murdered and the public incensed by the media blames the naughty girl Jessica , making guilty and jail of her, which is a typical analogy for the biblical Eva-Lilith situation. The film goes through three genre changes till it ends. The crime thriller is only a pretend, that part is made clear as we are a quarter in the film where the writer-hero warns us that his film would be one of the exceptions of crime thrillers, which means there would be no crime-solving in the end, surely there is none as the film ends. The writer hero actually spends the entire time trying to figure out how to make sense of what he is now telling, constantly explaining his topology and originality in story-making, which can be quite tiresome and irritating to watch sometimes, i have to admit. But the suspense of the film at the same time shifts from a crime solving to a genre figuring: we wonder how the writer-hero is going to make out of this story-telling after all. In the process, the cinematic style changes as he teases us with the structure of Dante's Infernal, taking its semi- Gothic elements, making parallels of the plot: Beatrice guides Dante ascending from hell, as Melanie (Cara's character) guides the writer hero out of his gloom. Then Melanie lead the hero to read"La Vita Nuova", which promises another possible genre change. By now, if any audience haven't abandon the film, they are about to witness the strong ending the film presents. It is strong not in the sense of plot, 'cause apparently nothing happened or is solved: Elizabeth is dead with no one to be blamed, Jessica is set free, but still not free from the blame of the public; it is strong ending shot in a series of melancholic montage, linking the hero's child Beatrice, the adolescent Melanie, and the deceased Elizabeth together, forcing the audience to see the inevitable affiliations between the three: apparitions of the same angel, in her different embodiment of ages. Thus, the film is eventually about a lamentation of beauty passing away, just like the father laments her daughter Elizabeth in her funeral, quoting Dante's lamentation on his beloved Beatrice, the same way the writer hero tries to get hold of her daughter via Skype, through image, but never does for real. It hints in the end, Melanie could be a figurative character out of the writer hero's creation, to let show the beauty's mysterious ways in the world before its passing, the imaginative figure that in reality passes without anyone sees, who also helps him work through his trauma to its lost, similarly as Beatrice to Dante in the inferno. The great thing about this ending metaphor is that it is not explicitly showed,which makes sense given the main tone of the film is still realistic despite monsters appears occasionally in hero's nightmares, breaking the genre for a bit of a sec. The ambiguity of the real and fantastic in this film turns out a big win for me. It's subtle, and definitely requires some patience and overall working-through on the audience's part. When one does figure it out , it leaves you with this lingering sense, a sense of love as well as a reminiscence of the beauty in a general sense, as Dante's La Vita Nuova promises us. Of course, that just might be the original novel telling, not so much about the movie itself. Might as well read the book.

Some will say that t is still too soon to be making a film about a murder case that shocked the World and they are arguably right. I did not know this was about that until I started watching it and will judge it as a film in its own rights. Anyway Daniel Bruhl plays a film maker who has had a run of bad luck and wants to make a film about the murder case and he teams up with a journalist played by Kate Beckinsale; she has been following the case from the start in Sienna. The case is ongoing as the film develops and Bruhl's character gets completely immersed and for those that followed the case there will be moments of déjà vu through out. There are many references to Dante's 'Divine Comedy' too and some rather awkward dream sequences. Is it any god though? Well I was not disinterested at all but it was still not riveting. Everyone puts in a good performance although some are a bit stereo typed – especially some of the journalists. So it is above average but I could not get away from the fact that for some people this case is still a living hell and that cast a pall over any 'enjoyment' (if that is the right word) that I could get from this production – hence my rating but I would not try to dissuade anyone from seeing this especially if you are fan of either of the leading actors as they both serve their trade well.

I'll be honest I think seven years is quite a short gap to make a film based largely on the tragic death of Meredith Kercher in 2007, I cannot imagine what the families of all concerned must think, the remainder of my review won't in any other way be clouded my opinions on that fact, tasteless though I find the format. Thomas, a British film maker travels to Siena in Italy, with a view to making a film based on the famous murder several years earlier of Elizabeth, a young student. Elizabeth's friend Jessica and her boyfriend Carlo were arrested for the crime. Thomas meets journalist Simone Ford who offers her advice and help. Jessica was convicted, but a re-trial is set to occur. Thomas begins exploring, he catches site of beautiful young waitress Melanie and forges an acquaintance. Thomas constantly snorts coke, possibly to help him be creative with his script. I know it's a film, but it is stretching the realms of reality, I cannot believe the Police would be keen to speak to any journalists, it would never happen. Plenty of scenes intended to shock, sex, drugs etc. The standard of acting is good on the whole, Daniel Brühl is a wonderfully talented actor, there doesn't seem to be a single role he cannot turn his hand to, the material is sadly a bit lacking for his talent. Cara Delevigne I've grown rather fond of based on her first few performances, I think she's proved a few people wrong, the girl is very good, there's just something about her. I am a fan of Kate Beckinsale, but I have to be honest I found her a little anonymous in this film, she didn't stand out. It is always nice to see Sara Stewart. Some of the imagery really just didn't work, as you get into the film and he starts with the drugs he begins getting some disturbing images, they aren't particularly well realised, none of them work on the whole, the effects are poor. (For any Doctor who fans, do I hear the Ood singing??) The music doesn't seem to be in tune with the film somehow. Overall I think it's a disappointing film, the storytelling itself is largely the issue, it just doesn't flow very well, it's disjointed, and the actions of leading man Thomas somehow feel at odds with the character, through no fault of Daniel Brühl, he battled hard with the script. 4/10

For all of you, who expected a big Hollywood-whodunnit-movie, don't see this one. This goes far deeper. Its not the story about a murder case, its the story about a guy trying to find a way of making a movie about it. The case split the world, there is no truth and thats the point. I found it very interesting to see a yellow-press murder case turned into an art-house movie. Brühls character knows he can only tell the truth (better: the truths) in fictional style and decides to tell it in a Dante-frame. How can you tell a story, that actually happened in a very fictional way? Mission accomplished. If you like murder cases AND Dante, go see it.

This film tells the story of a film director who sleeps with one of the hottest women in the world while on a trip to Italy. After which he decides to get totally wasted on coke, marijuana and alcohol. Then he ditches one of the hottest women in the world for one of the other hottest women in the world who is half the age of the first one. Meanwhile he stumbles from party to party stoned and drunk, ignoring the other not so hot women characters that he encounters. He also has an annoying not so hot wife who pops up from time to time. He finally settles for the younger hot one but I imagine it not lasting too long. There is a side story about the murder of one super hot chick by another hot chick. Not all is lost though because Cara CAN act!

I never write reviews, but actually signed on to this site to post a review after watching this movie. I feel like I just wasted two hours of my life. It takes a lot for me to not like a movie... I can usually find something to like....but not with this movie. I thought this movie would be about the story of the murder. It's not. It's really a movie about the writer's experiences while researching this murder. The whole movie is a bumbling mess, focused more on the writer's life, than on the actual murder case. It should not be advertised as being about the murder. It's really like this writer used this story as a platform to write a story about his own life, which by the way, is not interesting enough to carry a movie. To make it even worse, the very few moments they recreate the trial....it's all spoken in Italian with no translation.

This is by far the worst movie I have seen in a long time. Throughout the whole thing I was waiting for something to finally start happening. Anything. I compare the experience to being forced to listen to someone whining for hours without an end... There were too many side stories, most of which were utterly boring and only shallowly touching upon the issues of cheating, drug abuse, family problems, psychos, depression. It seems they would throw 'anything' in there but they really failed to find an angle for the story. And this is what the story is about - failure. The main character is a failure, the story is a failure, the fact that murder is not solved is a failure. But the biggest failure of all is this badly directed movie. I have never been so agitated by watching a movie and while in the cinema I was thinking ''why don't you drown now'' about the main character... at least it would make this movie interesting in some way. I wish I could get a refund for watching this.

Barbie Latza Nadeau's novel based on a true event has been transformed (or mutated) into a screenplay by Paul Viragh and the result as directed by Michael Winterbottom is a fine scenic tour of Sienna, Italy – and little else. The story is based on true events - a journalist (Kate Beckinsale) and a filmmaker (Daniel Brühl) lose themselves in a notorious murder case they are covering – the controversial case of a American student accused of murder (the victim in truth, one Meredith Kercher) in Italy. Somehow the story gets lost in translation but if you can get past the fact that this is more of a fantasy film than reportage portions of can be entertaining. It does allow a primarily Italian cast to look great and decorate the already visually stunning sites of Sienna.

Firstly, I wish to extend my condolences to the family of Meredith Kercher. It is unfortunate that the film gives very little concern to the ongoing trial almost as an afterthought. The film spends too much time on Daniel Bruhl's character or more accurately lack thereof. Daniel Bruhl can act but in this role he seemed so detached that maybe it was the drugs or maybe there was a lack of empathy for the role. Then again Daniel Bruhl was too busy inspecting bedroom furniture in the company of Kate Beckinsale's character and then chasing after (for research purposes for the new movie - there's a line for the gullible) model turned actress Cara D(thick eyebrows). Conveniently placed English 21 year old who just happens to be working in a bar within earshot and walking distance of the crime scene. (cue the source music from the Human League - Don't you want me 1982 either that or Kraftwerk - the Model may be more fitting.) The movie goes off into another pointless tangent, perhaps an advertisement for the Tuscan Tourist Board, where Cara D and Daniel Bee(ruhl) frolic on a little beach. When watching this film you wanted to get a picture or idea of who Miss M Kercher was like. But you feel let down that it is just a few scenes that don't really establish that. Perhaps it was a ploy by Winterbottom to highlight the fact that she was murdered. Furthermore you wanted to discover more about the accused and the background of the investigation but the audience was only given second hand anecdotal quips and hearsay from characters garnered from meetings in public houses (gosh for a minute I thought I was watching Eastenders or Coronation Street there.) I was really looking forward to seeing this, but if you enjoy movies where the main protagonist (who really only gets that title by mere screen time rather than actually doing anything) goes to bars, nightclubs, restaurants, cafés and office meetings, then you will probably love this film. However if you are not in the habit of seeing movies that are just blatant advertisements for the Tuscan Tourist Board for Club 18-30something then do yourself a favour and avoid this movie at all costs. It's such a shame that there was so much talent and production values (including Kate Beckinsale's faking fake orgasms but not in the style of when Harry Met Sally more like when Katy met Danny). That there may be a good movie in the all of the footage that was shot but they probably forgot to include it. I really hoped that this film would get better but it didn't. It's time I have wasted watching this movie that I can never get back. I could have watched something more interesting like varnish dry.