An Angel for May

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Michael G @Lothario12 Feb 14, 2024 , A charming British film , the story while not original was wonderfully executed and the emotions sincere, the caliber of the acting made this film succeed, gentle, sentimental and the kind of film they used to make See more Dec 2, 2017 This film has an excellent premise: modern boy ends up in WW2 England and learns valuable lessons about life, etc. etc. You know the sort of cliches it will indulge in even if such films aren't exactly common, but at the same time they're cliches for a reason. This film is proof, however, that a great premise is not enough to make a film great. It needs a great script and great execution as well. And both of these are merely competent at best. The film takes no unexpected detours, no interesting perspectives, no new angles. It's not even interested in examining the difference in culture between 1940s England and today. Instead it just goes from point A (travel through time) to point B (meets random girl in trouble) to point C (realize she suffers a terrible fate and works to rescue her). In fact, remove the time travel and it's virtually interchangeable with any number of coming-of-age films. The cinematography is run-of-the-mill made-for-TV-movie, with drab landscapes merged with uninspired camera angles and minimal motion. One effective element is the way it displays the difference between modern and old Yorkshire. Present-day scenes always feature the trappings of modern society somewhere in them in the form of windfarms, highways, etc. It's obvious but effective nonetheless since the Yorkshire countryside hasn't changed all that much since the '40s. Indeed, all the '40s scenes are marked by massive factories and indiustrial buildings that you rarely find anymore. The character drama of the present is effective too, for all that it's typical of the genre. Divorced single mum having trouble getting her son to accept her new boyfriend. No wonder people are easily convinced he's run away. The '40s drama doesn't work quite as well, largely because it's never given time to. Tom Wilkinson is great (naturally) but he's really given very little screentime. We don't really have a chance to know this new world. There are some randomly absurd elements to the film too. Time travel is achieved through the highly unusual element of a magic dog. Or at least that's how I interpret it. There's lightning involved as well, which is a pretty archaic scifi trope. One of my favorite bits was a funny scene where the freshly arrived boy is running through the town as all the locals stare at him. Only it's not like mildly curious staring, they're looking at him like he's a Martian. Have they never seen a boy before? Or perhaps it's his funny 'I gotta run fast only not too fast or the cameramen will lose me' half-jog. I guess the idea is that he's dressed funny (and the gortex raincoat and hoodie obviously aren't standard '40s wear) but is it really so alien? You'd think he was running naked in the streets wearing only prominent Nazi memorabilia the way people were staring at him. Another great scene has the Nazis bombing an empty field in Yorkshire in the middle of the day. It's delightful how little sense this makes. The film isn't completely bad. I'd actually say it's fine. But it's not all it could have been. It's unambitious and predictable, and in this case that makes the film bland. Only the premise saves it to some degree. See more Oct 16, 2012 looking for a copy of this movie. if you have one please e-mail me @ jake22700@aol.com thanks See more Jun 22, 2011 I am such a sucker for movies like this... it was sweet. See more Dec 15, 2010 Amateurish acting and an overly sappy (nothing wrong with that if it works but this failed) plot with lame special effects make An Angle for May a movie that few have heard of and with reason. See more Oct 7, 2009 Not as good as I'd hoped, but interesting. See more Read all reviews

An Angel for May

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