City of Angels (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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City of Angels is a 1998 American romantic fantasy film directed by Brad Silberling and starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. Set in Los Angeles, California, the film is a loose remake of Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), which was set in Berlin. As with the original, City of Angels tells the story of an angel (Cage) who falls in love with a mortal woman (Ryan), and wishes to become human in order to be with her. With the guidance of a man (Dennis Franz) who has already made the transition from immortality, the angel falls and discovers the human experience.
When producer Dawn Steel saw potential to pursue more story ideas in Wenders' original concept, she and her husband Charles Roven acquired the rights for an English-language adaptation. After years of delay, they found support from Warner Bros. and recruited Silberling and screenwriter Dana Stevens to execute the project. Themes were borrowed from Wenders' work, though the ending was altered, to a more tragic effect. City of Angels was filmed around California and dedicated to Steel, who died before the premiere.
The remake was released to financial success, but mixed reviews, with some critics judging it to be a mawkish adaptation. It was also noted for its soundtrack, and nominated for several awards, particularly for its performances and soundtrack.
Plot
In Los Angeles, California, Seth is one of many angels who watch over humans and protect them in unseen ways. Seth's main responsibility is to appear to those who are close to death and guide them to the next life. During this task, Seth and one of his fellow angels, Cassiel, enjoy asking people what their favorite thing in life was. Despite these daily encounters, they have trouble understanding human beings and their ways, as angels lack human senses.
While waiting to escort a man undergoing heart surgery to the other world, Seth is impressed by the vigorous efforts of the surgeon, Maggie Rice, to save the ill-fated man's life and her sincere anguish at her failure to do so. Seth soon becomes preoccupied with Maggie and decides to become visible to her. They develop a friendship which soon turns to mutual attraction, although Maggie is already involved with one of her colleagues, Jordan Ferris. Seth then meets Nathaniel Messinger, one of Maggie's patients, who can sense Seth's presence and that of other angels. Nathaniel relates to Seth that he, too, had once been an angel but, by way of the free will granted equally to mortals and angels, decided to become human through the process he refers to as "falling". Seth begins to consider exercising this option so that he can be with Maggie, and she learns he is an angel.
[[File:A view of Lake Tahoe from Crystal bay.JPG|225px|thumb|Lake Tahoe is featured in the film.]] Seth decides to become human through the symbolic gesture of jumping from the top of a skyscraper. Immediately upon awakening, he starts to experience all of the human feelings and sensations that he had never been able to understand, beginning with physical injury and pain. Now human, Seth heads to the hospital to see Maggie, but is told that she has gone to her uncle's mountain cabin for a break.
Penniless and naïve, he cannot pay for the journey and ends up getting mugged. He eventually hitches a ride to Lake Tahoe and appears, soaked and cold, at Maggie's doorstep. Maggie realizes that he has given up his angelic status for her love, and they have sex. The next morning, as Seth is in the shower, Maggie rides her bicycle to a local store. On her way back, happy and fulfilled, she rides her bicycle with her eyes closed and her arms wide open. Her happiness is cut when she fails to notice a logging truck that was backing up in her path and is fatally injured in the collision.
Seth senses that Maggie is in trouble and runs to her aid. He arrives in time for Maggie to tell him that she sees the angel who has come to escort her away. Although Seth is no longer able to see the angels, he knows they are there and frantically begs Maggie not to look at them. Maggie tells him that she is not afraid anymore and that when they will ask her what her favorite thing in life used to be, she will say it was Seth, before she dies.
Grieving and alone, Seth is visited by Cassiel. Seth questions if he is being punished for leaving heaven to be a human, which Cassiel assures him is not the case. Some time later, Seth expresses his joy in being human and the fact that he has come to terms with his new life by running into the ocean and feeling the waves.
