Disturbing yet enthralling

Better Late Then Never

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

All of the weaknesses in this mostly spectacular production of Angels in America are inherent in the play on which it's based. Except for one serious mistake in casting, Mike Nichols did an astounding job of turning a deeply flawed but occasionally brilliant play into a much better movie.The biggest problem with Angels in America is the angels. The entire "heaven" theme that's only hinted at in the first half comes in with such force in the second that it nearly torpedoes this hugely ambitious production.Poor Emma Thompson is given such stupid, pretentious lines to read, lines that I'm not sure the greatest actor who ever lived could have spoken without coming off as a moron, that it's amazing her career survived this.Her long, LONG, excruciatingly bad speech to Prior about the history of the universe is unbelievably stupid, so stupid and so awkward that at best it may be a bizarre attempt at comic relief by a writer with no sense for comedy.But the nurse she plays isn't much better, even though those lines are better written. Thompson is just miscast in those roles. In large part it's because her clumsy American accents make it a strain to accept those characters as real. She's working so hard (but failing) to get the accents right that it sounds like she has marbles in her mouth.But, as I said, I'm not sure any actor on earth could do much better, at least with the insufferably stupid angel character (although I'd like to see what Meryl Streep would have done with that role). Even the otherwise well-written (and impeccably acted) role of Belize degenerates into pretentious gibberish near the end when Kushner has him telling Cohn what the afterlife is like.A writer who doesn't know anything about or even believe in the afterlife shouldn't make it such an important part of his work. Those scenes are SO false and SO pretentious that they almost sink an otherwise unique and often fascinating play.If Kushner had stuck to the human beings and left out the angels (and the whole absurd supernatural construct they represent), if he had sidelined his own petty, personal, spoiled-childish animosity toward God instead of making it central, he'd have had a much more powerful play. It's completely appropriate that the first half won a Pulitzer Prize but the second half didn't.The other actors are fine, especially Streep as Mother Pitt and Ethel Rosenberg, Mary-Louise Parker as Harper and Jeffrey Wright as Belize, a role he obviously was born to play. Mike Nichols is a genius, and the overall production is among the best ever filmed.The sets, costumes and effects are brilliant and flawless. This is a fully and richly executed movie - it was released as a TV miniseries only because the movie studios wouldn't finance it. Except for the stupid angel and afterlife parts in the second half, the nearly six hours fly past, which is a huge compliment from someone with a short attention span like me.(It's funny to see how many of the negative reviews are from clueless people who watched this based only on its title and ran screaming when they discovered it's not a sterile, patriotic, inspirational product of the Billy Graham Studios.)

Angels In America may not have the cast of thousands that epic films are supposed to have. It has the length, but more to the point it has the heart. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is still very much with us, AZT is still the preferred method of treatment and control, but we can thank God and a lot of concerned activists that it is not the rare item reserved for the privileged few as we see here.This epic takes it cues in structure and format from such big screen films as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and later on Crash. A select group of individuals, all fictional but based on people that Tony Kushner knew no doubt. I spotted a few in their I knew including flashing glimpses of myself in passing. That made for some uncomfortable viewing at certain points, but it was appreciative.One real person is here and possibly in a couple more generations people will look at Roy Cohn and ask could such a monster exist? I'm here to say he very much did exist. The Jew who turned his back on his own people, the gay man who refused to admit it to himself because he saw his people as weak and oppressed. These people exist, I knew a gay man who absolutely refused to admit his same sex attraction, he's still with us involved in right wing homophobic groups. And as for his Jewishness he renounced that religion and converted to Russian Orthodox. Talk about self hatred. These people are very real and in positions of power they are deadly.Roy Cohn is played here by Al Pacino and Pacino gives us one bravura performance as the dying monster who gets for himself the precious and at that time rare AZT to prolong a miserable existence. He's the self hating gay who moves with the elite who use homophobia obtain and retain power. Cohn first got public attention as one of the prosecutors in the famous atomic spy case. With what we know now there's no doubt Julius Rosenberg was guilty as charged. What Ethel's role in the case remains murky, she was a devoted wife and a believer in Julius's Marxist ideals. The government however wanted a confession from Julius and Cohn sought to get one. He held Ethel's life in the balance and neither Rosenberg would give up their crime or their accomplices if there were more. The bluff was called and Cohn with the zeal of a rabid dog pushed for her execution.In his miserable last hours on earth Cohn resisting the grim reaper is visited by Ethel Rosenberg and who could blame her for exacting some sadistic torment of Cohn. Her spirit is one of many played by Meryl Streep who took her cues from Alec Guinness from Kind Hearts And Coronets. With two great players like these, these moments in the film are choice.Others in the cast are Ben Shenkman another Jewish gay man involved with Justin Kirk who has come down with AIDS. There's Jeffrey Wright playing a black gay man who is nurse to both Pacino and Kirk. Shenkman works in the xerox room of a white shoe law firm that Cohn has his hooks into and his fair haired boy there is Patrick Wilson, a Mormon married to Mary Louise Parker but who has some same sex attractions.This is quite a mix of characters and away from Pacino and Streep my favorite moment is Shenkman who has broken under the strain of the health issues around Kirk got himself involved with Wilson. When he goes to the law library and reads some of the decisions, the inhumane decisions that Wilson has written for his senile judge for whom he is a clerk, the rage comes forth. He shames Wilson, but in a large degree he expiates his own sins.Pacino as Cohn, Streep as Rosenberg and many others and the rest of this stellar ensemble have created a masterpiece. This will last for centuries as a monument to the many who died, many whom I knew and loved and those who survived and fought to retain dignity and hope.

Angels in America is a HBO miniseries adapted from the Pulitzer Prize- winning play of the same name by Tony Kushner.It has superb cast namely: Justin Kirk,Al Pacino,Patrick Wilson,Meryl Streep,Ben Shenkman,Mary- Louise Parker,Emma Thompson and Jeffrey Wright.Mike Nichols directed. Set in 1985,the film has at its core the story of two couples whose relationships dissolve amidst the backdrop of Reagan era politics, the spreading AIDS epidemic and a rapidly changing social and political climate.The story centers around Prior Walter and Louis Ironson, a gay couple that falls apart when Prior grows ill as a result of AIDS. But cancer is not the only thing invading Prior's life: He begins to have religious visions of an angel announcing that he is a prophet. Louis, who doesn't cope well with disease and suggestions of mortality, leaves and starts a relationship with Joe Pitt, a closeted Mormon who works for Roy Cohn -- the real-life right-wing lawyer, notorious for his ruthless behind-the- scenes machinations. Add in Joe's depressed and hallucinating wife Harper, his determined but open-minded mother Hannah, a fierce drag queen/nurse named Belize, and you've still only begun to discover the wealth of characters and story lines in Kushner's ambitious work.This is a great mini-series. Although it contains a lot of gay themes,it touches more than that.It tells about the changes in society and how people are affected by it at all levels and it touches on other themes such as about AIDS, conservative politics, history, relationships, self awareness, religion, theology, love, forgiveness, survival and transcendence.Also,it contains great acting from its superb cast led by Al Pacino and Meryl Streep.And most of all,it is must-see to fully understand what people go through in society.

Despite a few A-List actors this is not a mainstream film and thus is not meant for your typical widespread audience with a short attention span. I don't know the details behind who funded this but it was clearly not made to make money, and I am very supportive of anyone who has the courage to take a risk and present a story from their heart - as opposed to selling out to fit Hollywood guidelines. Also, the series was made from a different point of view that most of us will hopefully never get to see in real life, showing suffering in a very visceral way, and that is another aspect that should be applauded.But I am afraid that is where the compliments end for Angels in America. The screenplay was very, very political where the characters either directly or indirectly blame a Republican ideology and President Ronald Regan for the AIDS crisis, as if he and his supporters were the ones that was causing AIDS to spread instead of the common sense fact that AIDS is spread through promiscuous men having unprotected anal sex.Al Pacino does a good job in his portrayal of Roy Cohen although I am sure his character was exaggerated to show more of his perception from the gay community. Aside from that, the film was dark and dreary with absolutely no hope for any of the characters except for their drug induced hallucinations. At the end of the film I didn't feel bad for anyone although I suppose I could have if they weren't portrayed in such a self serving and spiteful fashion. My favorite scenes included Mary Louise Parker as she was the only one that was light-hearted an innocent without an agenda of her own.The far majority of scenes were drawn out and unnecessary. The fact that the same exact story could have been told in 3 hours instead of 6 really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.Again, I support films that go against the tide, especially ones for a cause, but this screenplay, or adaptation rather, was over the top, drawn out and boring.