{"id":43786,"date":"2019-02-19T21:33:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T05:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=43786"},"modified":"2019-02-19T21:33:34","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T05:33:34","slug":"angel-face-vanessa-filho-2018-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=43786","title":{"rendered":"Angel Face (Vanessa Filho, 2018): France"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by William Geare. Viewed at the 2019 Santa Barbara Film Festival.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone \" src=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/angel-face-gueule-dange-film-review-cannes-2018.jpg\" width=\"419\" height=\"236\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Angel Face, <\/i>co-writer\/director Vanessa Filho\u2019s debut feature about a young girl\u2019s relationship with her damaged and irresponsible mother, is a wonderfully imaginative and creative film. The narrative is constructed with care and filled to the brim with tension. The kinetic energy that infuses the claustrophobic camera work, and the quiet, dulcet tones of the musical score help create a film that is both intimate and grand at the same time. By focusing the film through a child\u2019s eyes, the film touches on how big the world can seem when you are young and alone. This is equal parts exciting and scary, and Filho strikes a perfect balance between wonderment and looming darkness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Boasting incredibly strong performances from its two leads, <i>Angel Face<\/i> shines brightest during its character moments. The relationships depicted are complex, emotional, and unapologetically raw. Marion Cotillard is predictably riveting as Marl\u00e8ne, and newcomer Ayline Aksoy-Etaix is startlingly convincing as her daughter Elli. As the film explores themes of challenging subjects of addiction, abandonment, and betrayal, Aksoy-Etaix\u2019s performance always anchors the film in a poignant reality that provides an unusual perspective on the topics at hand. So much of the film rides on her performance, and it is nothing short of stellar. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Though there are noticeable echoes of Sean Baker\u2019s <i>The Florida Project <\/i>(and other similar films) hidden not so subtly in the DNA of <i>Angel Face<\/i>, the film\u2019s distinct identity helps the familiar themes and subject matters seem fresh and original. Filho carefully infuses the story with a lot of symbolism, making sure to draw poignant connections without seeming heavy-handed about it. The portraits painted of the characters\u2019 lifestyles are all beautifully realized, and serve to draw viewers further into the world being created. While the film isn\u2019t without its faults, <i>Angel Face <\/i>is overall quite a success, showing Filho to be a promising new voice in the filmmaking world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by William Geare. Viewed at the 2019 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Angel Face, co-writer\/director Vanessa Filho\u2019s debut feature about a young girl\u2019s relationship with her damaged and irresponsible mother, is a wonderfully imaginative and creative film. The narrative is constructed with care and filled to the brim with tension. The kinetic energy that infuses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247007,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/247007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43786"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44390,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43786\/revisions\/44390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}