The Angel is an experimental film with a capital E, and with a few exclamation marks in there for added effect. An E(!!!)xperimental film, if you will.

It's strange enough that it's hard to even summarise. A figure seems to be continually walking up a huge flight of stairs, and along the way, he meets people (sort of?),or else other scenes featuring other people play out from time to time.

You can read into it what you want, or just take it as a unique, unnerving experience. In that latter way, it works well, and is more engaging than most experimental movies (even if you're like me and don't know what to make of it most of the time).

The music and sound design is really effective, and the visuals are great, especially in the film's final scenes. I might have 2001: A Space Odyssey in the mind after seeing it again last night, but The Angel feels a bit like an hour-long version of that film's final 15-20 minutes. Lots of striking imagery that's hard to define it even comprehend.

All in all, The Angel was a challenging watch, but a mostly solid one.

What do Jean Cocteau, Luis Bunuel, Man Ray, Sergei Eisenstein, Mary Ellen Bute, Slavko Vorkapich and Joseph Cornell have in common? If you're familiar with all of them, you probably are or were in film studies. They're all early experimental film makers. If you think that you enjoy "art house" flicks because you've caught a Truffaut or Fellini film once or twice, wait until you get a load of the work of these artists. At its most extreme, we're talking... no narrative... no characters... no semblance of rhyme or reason whatsoever. We're talking MOOD. We're talking VISUAL POETRY. And, yeah... we're talking PRETENTIOUS. But who gives a damn? If there's a place for "Santa with Muscles," there's a place for pretentious, too. [Actually... scratch that. If there's a place for John Murlowski/Hulk Hogan movies, it's the trash.]

If you're not familiar with any of the aforementioned directors, I'd probably say that the closest thing you've seen to the dazzling cinematography of "L'Ange" would be the dream sequences of David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" or Tarsem Singh's "The Cell." If you haven't seen either of those movies... I honestly don't know what to tell you. Many directors, in fact, employ Bokanowski's techniques as devices in their films. The main differences are... first... they didn't start using them in 1982. In fact, it's taken them the better part of twenty years to catch up with him. Second, they don't make whole films that way. Whole films of eerie avant-garde images don't sell at the box office. Hollywood hasn't financed experimental cinema in over sixty years; if you really think that Lynch and Scorsese's films are daring... well... that's you.

"L'Ange" is a wonderful film. Simply put. See it yourself. There's no reason to describe what's in it, because everyone must have a different experience of this film, even if that includes sleeping, walking out, screaming or falling into a hypnotically-induced torpor. Patrick Borkanowski is not an important director... he's an important artist. In "The Critic as Artist," Wilde said, "Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways." I'm not sure exactly in which way "L'Ange" spoke to me, but I can tell you this: This is a creepy little peace of heaven.

Ah, yes... L'Ange...

You probably won't find this one on the shelf at Blockbuster or any of the larger chains, but that's why indy stores are better.

I'd really like to tell you about the film, but I can't. Even though I've seen it many times, the "plot?" escapes me. It's the look and feel of the thing that gives it its guaranteed cult status. Five years in the making, L'Ange is a masterpiece of image editing and manipulation. Especially for being made from 1977-1982. Well worth the search. Of course, you could probably just order a copy at your local privately owned video store for about $30. Beats watching watching Hollywood claptrap by a long chalk!

To talk about the scenes themselves almost feels like a spoiler. They're best experienced without prior knowledge (at least the first time) or expectations. Just know that it's not typical (almost no dialogue) and not passive (crazy violin!) and definitely not marketable (L'Ange action figures!) like a typical project.

Ah, yes. The Angel.