Nominees: RoboCop, The Last Emperor, Hope and Glory, Radio Days, Matewan, Where is the Friends House? Pelle the Conqueror, Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle, Dark Eyes
Oscars pick: The Last Emperor
Nominees: Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck
Wings of Desire is exquisitely rendered work of avant-garde German existentialism from Wim Wenders. It concerns the comings and goings of Angels who watch over us. They can't see color, experience taste or smells. And while they can comfort us, they can't interfere with our free will. All they can do is watch and listen to our thoughts as we go around our mundane lives.
Angel's congregate at the library, where hundreds of inner thoughts and ideas flood the air. It is here that we are given a scene of pure elevation: A rousing choir swells - a crash of dialog is heard, and an Angel closes his eyes and lifts his head as if in rapture.
Later, one Heavenly being (Bruno Ganz), becomes so fascinated with a trapeze artist that he decides to give up his wings to be with her and experience all the sweetness and the sorrows that being human can offer.
The movie is long, and it belabors its point - but I gather that was the point. Appreciate life, all aspects of life. The pain you feel, the love, even the boring parts of it. Brad Silberling, who directed the so/so American adaptation, called the original "A human epic of intimate proportions", and that sums it up nicely.
I should also point out the striking cinematography from Henri Alekan, Critic Roger Ebert noted... “His camera seems liberated from gravity; it floats over the city, or glides down the aisle of an airplane. It does not intrude; it observes. When the angel follows the trapeze artist into a rock club, it doesn't fall into faster cutting rhythms; it remains detached. The critic Bryant Frazer observes that Cassiel, the other angel, "leans against the wall and closes his eyes, and the stage lights cast three different shadows off his body, alternating and shifting position and color as though we're watching Cassiel's very essence fragmenting before our eyes."
Beyond the nominees, I also liked... Babette’s Feast, Red Sorghum, Raising Arizona, Yeelen, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Living Daylights, La Bamba, Au Revoir les Enfants, A Chinese Ghost Story, Strawman, Comrades
Actors? There were a lot of quality performances to choose from, but Von Sydow's (who received his first Oscar nomination for the role) was, to quote Vincent Canby, "in a category by itself." Canby would go on to write, "Mr. von Sydow is something splendid to see as the boozy, weak-willed, loving Lasse. Though it is a rich performance, full of wit and humor, it is never broad or self-serving." All true, and it's a great honor to finally award this brilliant actor.
Honorable Mentions:
Bruno Ganz, Wings of Desire * Jack Nicholson, Ironweed * John Lone, The Last Emperor * Michael Douglas, Wall Street * Marcello Mastroianni, Dark Eyes * Victor Rebengiuc, The Moromete Family * Joe Mantegna, House of Games * Mickey Rourke, Angel Heart * Dan Aykroyd, Dragnet
Honorable Mentions:
Stéphane Audran, Babette’s Feast * Emily Lloyd, Wish You Were Here * Meryl Streep, Ironweed * Cher, Moonstruck * Maggie Smith, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne * Nobuko Miyamoto, A Taxing Woman * Anjelica Huston, The Dead * Yelena Safonova, Dark Eyes
