''Angela'' is a 1995 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Rebecca Miller and starring John Ventimiglia, Anna Thomson, Miranda Stuart Rhyne and Vincent Gallo. The film, Miller's directorial debut, won awards at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and the Gotham Awards. It premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and was given a limited release on January 26, 1996.

Plot

Angela is a 10-year-old girl trying to cope with a

dysfunctional family In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

and is on a quest to 'purify' herself. Her parents, Mae and Andrew, are former musicians who have resigned themselves to the loss of their dreams. They are now having problems in their relationship. Mae has drastic mood shifts that bring her from manic happiness to utter misery. Andrew tries to hold everyone together, but Mae's vacillations are becoming more than he can manage. Angela tries to cope by inventing an imaginary universe of 'order' for herself and her 6-year-old sister, Ellie. Left to figure out everything for themselves, she grabs at scraps of religion, superstition, and fantasy to try to make some sense out of the world and understand the difference between good and evil. She and Ellie concoct magical rituals and have visions of fallen angels and the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

; reading signs in the way a towel falls off a chair or a tool falls off a truck, they set off to find their way to heaven. They wander through the neighborhood, meet a lot of strange people, and try to find a way to absolve themselves of whatever sins they may have committed, and 'go to heaven'. At first, the stories that Angela tells Ellie are mainly meant to scare her into submission. But as time goes on, and her mother succumbs to mental illness, Angela becomes obsessed with the idea that the only way her mother is going to get better is if she and her sister can wash away all of their sins. At the end of the film, Angela takes Ellie to the river to be baptized, but drowns after being washed away with the current. Ellie is left standing alone, only to begin rising up from the river in a pose reminiscent of an angel.

Cast

* John Ventimiglia as Andrew * Anna Thomson as Mae * Miranda Stuart Rhyne as Angela * Charlotte Blythe as Ellie * Vincent Gallo as Preacher * Peter Facinelli as Lucifer * Hynden Walch as Darlene * Caitlin Hall as Anne * Frances Conroy as Anne's mother

Reception

Stephen Holden of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote ''Angela'' is a film that "is at its best when looking at the world through Angela's eyes before she has gone numb. Its early scenes beautifully capture a childhood intuition of a world where bogeymen lurk and angels hover. On a more somber note, the film is an almost clinical study of how children absorb their parents' psychology." Holden praised the "strong, unself-conscious performances" of the lead child actors as well as of the supporting cast. John Anderson of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' praised the cinematography and said, "What Miller is showing us are the roots of religion in fear and ignorance: Angela, visibly angry at her life and deprived of an enemy, devises ways of fending off Satan." Though he said one of the film’s weaknesses is its tendency to be vague, "Miller keeps he audiencewhite-knuckled".

Accolades

*1995

**Filmmakers Trophy, Dramatic - Rebecca Miller (won) **Cinematography Award, Dramatic - Ellen Kuras (won) **Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic - Rebecca Miller (nominated) * 1995 Gotham Awards ** Open Palm Award for Breakthrough Director - Rebecca Miller (won) *1996 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival **Silver Raven Award - Rebecca Miller (won)

References

External links

* * {{Rebecca Miller 1995 films 1995 drama films 1995 directorial debut films 1995 independent films American independent films American drama films Films about dysfunctional families Films about depression Films about religion Magic realism films The Devil in film Marian apparitions in film Films directed by Rebecca Miller Sundance Film Festival award–winning films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Films about sisters English-language drama films English-language independent films