Review of ANGEL MINE
During the last edition of the Fantasia Film Festival, New Zealand filmmaker David Blyth was in Montreal to host a special presentation of his documentaries on fetishism. While in town, the director behind cult favorites Death Warmed Up ! and Red Blooded American Girl was nice enough to give me a copy of Angel Mine, his first feature film, a strange and unique love story he produced at the tender age of 22 years old.
A young couple is falling apart. Their mutual feelings are long gone and sexual relations have disappeared from their day-to-day life. Stuck in a boring routine, they're ready to try anything that could give a new life to the fading fire. Meanwhile, for mysterious reasons, two leather-wearing spacemen (played by the same actors than the couple) want to torture and kill the lovers.
Because of its non-linear narrative, it is quite difficult to give a straight synopsis to Angel Mine. The film doesn't tell its story in a traditionnal way. Quite the opposite, it is composed of multiple skits featuring the same characters in different situations and locations. While some of them are realistic, the majority of the segments are set in a dreamlike world where protagonists act in an unusual behavior and no logic seems to apply. Those sequences benefit from an hypnotic imagery boosted with symbolism and a raw erotic energy. The opening scene where the male character comes out of the ocean to meet his naked wife who's sitting on a toilet seat strikes the viewer with its lurid poetry and moody atmosphere. As mentionned earlier, there's no apparent logic on the surface, but as the film goes on, we quickly realize the undeniable presence of a clever structure. Even known the skits seem disconnected, they all follow the same path, showing us the evolution of the couple's psychology. With its intellectual editing and smart use of metaphors, Angel Mine is very close to Jean-Luc Godard's work.
The influence of the Swedish filmmaker is also evident within the movie's sense of humour. Angel Mine stops every now and then for weird commercial breaks that sometimes feature the main characters. A scene involving the couple in a BSDM session becomes hilarious when the viewer discovers the soundtrack is coming from a tennis match. As funny as it is, this artistic choice also serves as a metaphor for the rivality between the two lovers.
The movie might sound a bit pretentious, but Blyth's honesty towards its subject matter makes Angel Mine a fascinating and surprisingly touching viewing experience. Like so many first features, this is a very personnal film showcasing all the themes and elements the young director will use in his future and more mainstream work. One of them is Blyth's love for gore. Angel Mine includes a gripping abortion scene that, even known the special effects are actually quite simple, is definitely effective.
Angel Mine is currently unavailable on video and there is no plan for a DVD release. With Transfigured Nights, Blyth's new doc on « masked webcams », travelling around the world, one can hope it'll raise new interest in the director's work and will encourage a daring distributor to get the rights for his first film. Such an odd title deserves to be discovered by a new generation of cult film lovers.
