The hauntingly sad melody of a tenor saxophone sounds over a littered alley in America's loneliest city in sync to the steps of an unkempt man in a long baggy coat. His name is Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke). He is a private detective from Brooklyn but not very successful. Most likely, Harry never heard of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita", otherwise he would have grinned skeptically at the title of the very first chapter, "Never Talk to Strangers." How would he find a client and get the job done if he doesn't talk to strangers? Such as a wealthy, sophisticated, and mysterious businessman named Louis Cypher (Robert De Niro). One fine day, Cypher made him an offer, which Harry did not refuse. The businessman tasked the detective to track down a once-popular singer named Johnny Liebling, aka Johnny Favorite, who disappeared without a trace many years ago. The businessman signed a contract with Johnny which the latter did not fulfill. The contract must be closed, and for this Cypher needs to find out what happened to the former pop star.
Several features distinguish "Angel Heart" from many similar films with a sensible private investigator who undertakes an undefined mission and immediately encounters corpses lining his path. The director Alan Parker successfully combines elements of classic noir films, such as dark lighting, cynical characters, hopeless intonation, and a fatalistic plot with a modern vision, which gives the picture its uniqueness. The atmosphere pulls in from the beginning to the last shot, which is helped by the soundtrack. It includes not only blues and jazz compositions but also a human heartbeat in the background that raises the level of tension in many scenes. Parker realistically portrayed the era of the 50s, not exaggerating the importance of details, but not in any way ignoring them. The careful composition reveals in each frame only what is necessary at the given moment to return later in a shocking flashback and reveal the full picture of what happened and how. The contrasts between windy winter streets, alleys, and avenues of New York Boroughs and hot New Orleans fit the story because climate change and setting reflect the beginning of Angel's true understanding of the case he is investigating, of himself and his own role in what is happening now and what happened many years ago.
Landscape filming, built on the screen opposition of two cities, penetrates at the visceral level. Gray and slushy New York in early January is freezing to the bone. When the investigation brings Harry to wet, stuffy, witchcraft New Orleans and its suburb of Algeria, the center of the ancient pagan cult of Voodoo, it is difficult to breathe and you wish for the rain that will clear the air, wash away the dirt from the broken asphalt of the streets, drown out the agonizing questions that persistently sound in the brain like the echoing beats of someone's heart, and will bring peace to the suffering soul. And the rain will come. A real tropical downpour, like the biblical flood. It will break through the leaking ceiling in a cheap hotel room and turn into streams of blood that will flood a squalid little room that has become a haven for two strangers, Harry Angel and Epiphany (Lisa Bonnet), a young Louisiana woman who might be a key to the secrets of the past. Tangled in a passionate embrace, they found each other for a moment in the labyrinth of other people's memories, blood, lust, betrayal, and death. But the rain will not bring purification nor hope. It will only plunge even deeper into the atmosphere of a nightmare with its unpredictable logic and the inability to wake up.
Following a cyclical rhythm, "Angel Heart" again and again returns to the same point. Shutters slam, fans growl, an elevator rumbles, heartbeats become more frequent, flights of stairs diverge into endless heights and transcendent depths, and there is always a figure in black on the bench that will never reveal the face. All of this evokes a sense of uncertainty of what is happening and the subtly enveloping ominousness that the viewer experiences along with the detective, who is desperately trying to close the case. Mickey Rourke is superb as Harry. Deprived of ambition, not caring about how he looks, unshaven, shaggy, with puffy eyes, awkward, but inconceivably charming with an amazing, slightly shy smile, Harry Angel is sympathetic from the first appearance. Rourke brings true emotions to the character of his hero: frightening, scared, distraught, or resigned, he is always realistic, and you sympathize with him to the end, even when Harry Angel discovers the true nature of his investigation.
The sinister tone of the movie is set by Robert De Niro with sharp long polished nails, a pentagram ring, fine manners, a slight grin, and elegant black suits. De Niro must have had a lot of fun preparing for the role of Messier Cypher: a neatly trimmed black beard, long hair slicked back and pulled into a bun at the back of his head, lighting and makeup tricks make him an uncanny Martin Scorsese's doppelganger. Considering what we eventually learn about Mr. Louis Cypher, this is a very peculiar and controversial dedication to the beloved director and close friend of the actor. At the same time, this is one of the manifestations of humor that is constantly present in a film which is anything but comedy.
A mystical thriller, allegorical parable, and horror film, Angel Heart is a bright, talented, and timeless exercise in the style and synthesis of cinema genres, in which Parker and his actors give their best, and the bold imagery keeps captivating even if you guessed pretty quickly where the investigation would lead Harry. Long after the old rumbling elevator leaves the lonely passenger at the final stop after an endless descent, the fan, the embodiment of inevitability, sighs heavily in the final revolution, and the beating of the human heart that accompanied the entire film subsides, the viewers will not be able to shake off dark magic of the film. They will reflect on the duality of human nature, on the endless struggle of the forces of light and darkness for the possession of the soul, on the roads that we choose, but which, in fact, choose us. They will think about the price that one must pay for the chosen path. About contracts that no one has the right to violate, the offers that are so hard to refuse, and about strangers from whom you need to run without looking back. But where to?
Several features distinguish "Angel Heart" from many similar films with a sensible private investigator who undertakes an undefined mission and immediately encounters corpses lining his path. The director Alan Parker successfully combines elements of classic noir films, such as dark lighting, cynical characters, hopeless intonation, and a fatalistic plot with a modern vision, which gives the picture its uniqueness. The atmosphere pulls in from the beginning to the last shot, which is helped by the soundtrack. It includes not only blues and jazz compositions but also a human heartbeat in the background that raises the level of tension in many scenes. Parker realistically portrayed the era of the 50s, not exaggerating the importance of details, but not in any way ignoring them. The careful composition reveals in each frame only what is necessary at the given moment to return later in a shocking flashback and reveal the full picture of what happened and how. The contrasts between windy winter streets, alleys, and avenues of New York Boroughs and hot New Orleans fit the story because climate change and setting reflect the beginning of Angel's true understanding of the case he is investigating, of himself and his own role in what is happening now and what happened many years ago.
Landscape filming, built on the screen opposition of two cities, penetrates at the visceral level. Gray and slushy New York in early January is freezing to the bone. When the investigation brings Harry to wet, stuffy, witchcraft New Orleans and its suburb of Algeria, the center of the ancient pagan cult of Voodoo, it is difficult to breathe and you wish for the rain that will clear the air, wash away the dirt from the broken asphalt of the streets, drown out the agonizing questions that persistently sound in the brain like the echoing beats of someone's heart, and will bring peace to the suffering soul. And the rain will come. A real tropical downpour, like the biblical flood. It will break through the leaking ceiling in a cheap hotel room and turn into streams of blood that will flood a squalid little room that has become a haven for two strangers, Harry Angel and Epiphany (Lisa Bonnet), a young Louisiana woman who might be a key to the secrets of the past. Tangled in a passionate embrace, they found each other for a moment in the labyrinth of other people's memories, blood, lust, betrayal, and death. But the rain will not bring purification nor hope. It will only plunge even deeper into the atmosphere of a nightmare with its unpredictable logic and the inability to wake up.
Following a cyclical rhythm, "Angel Heart" again and again returns to the same point. Shutters slam, fans growl, an elevator rumbles, heartbeats become more frequent, flights of stairs diverge into endless heights and transcendent depths, and there is always a figure in black on the bench that will never reveal the face. All of this evokes a sense of uncertainty of what is happening and the subtly enveloping ominousness that the viewer experiences along with the detective, who is desperately trying to close the case. Mickey Rourke is superb as Harry. Deprived of ambition, not caring about how he looks, unshaven, shaggy, with puffy eyes, awkward, but inconceivably charming with an amazing, slightly shy smile, Harry Angel is sympathetic from the first appearance. Rourke brings true emotions to the character of his hero: frightening, scared, distraught, or resigned, he is always realistic, and you sympathize with him to the end, even when Harry Angel discovers the true nature of his investigation.
The sinister tone of the movie is set by Robert De Niro with sharp long polished nails, a pentagram ring, fine manners, a slight grin, and elegant black suits. De Niro must have had a lot of fun preparing for the role of Messier Cypher: a neatly trimmed black beard, long hair slicked back and pulled into a bun at the back of his head, lighting and makeup tricks make him an uncanny Martin Scorsese's doppelganger. Considering what we eventually learn about Mr. Louis Cypher, this is a very peculiar and controversial dedication to the beloved director and close friend of the actor. At the same time, this is one of the manifestations of humor that is constantly present in a film which is anything but comedy.
A mystical thriller, allegorical parable, and horror film, Angel Heart is a bright, talented, and timeless exercise in the style and synthesis of cinema genres, in which Parker and his actors give their best, and the bold imagery keeps captivating even if you guessed pretty quickly where the investigation would lead Harry. Long after the old rumbling elevator leaves the lonely passenger at the final stop after an endless descent, the fan, the embodiment of inevitability, sighs heavily in the final revolution, and the beating of the human heart that accompanied the entire film subsides, the viewers will not be able to shake off dark magic of the film. They will reflect on the duality of human nature, on the endless struggle of the forces of light and darkness for the possession of the soul, on the roads that we choose, but which, in fact, choose us. They will think about the price that one must pay for the chosen path. About contracts that no one has the right to violate, the offers that are so hard to refuse, and about strangers from whom you need to run without looking back. But where to?