there is a striking scene early in " city of angels , " where all the angels who live unseen in our midst , gather at the beach to watch the sun rise . 
the camera moves above them , showing the endless rows of ethereal men and women , all garbed in black . 
then the camera moves in on the face of seth , an angel played by nicolas cage , and as the sun rises , he smiles and his entire face lights up . 
you see , the angels can hear music in sunrises and sunsets , but they cannot feel a human touch . 
it is an important scene for several reasons . 
first of all , it is one of many instances in the film that make angels seem thoroughly plausible . 
the film presents these fantastic beings as normal-looking people who drift amongst the inhabitants of earth , watching what goes on with little interference . 
there are none of the standard , hokey angel references used in recent films like " angels in the outfield " ( 1994 ) or " michael " ( 1996 ) . 
the angels here are stark and believable . 
this early scene on the beach is also an important scene of juxtaposition , for its shows how god's angels can enjoy aspects of the earth that human cannot , and yet they are denied so many simple human pleasures , like feeling the sand on their feet or the waves lapping at their legs , or the smell of the salt in the air . 
there is an inherent tragedy in being an angel , although there is much beauty in it as well . 
they eternally walk the earth , listening to our thoughts , touching us in our pain , and leading the dying to heaven . 
like human existence , being an angel is often confused and unsure . 
 " city of angels " is essentially a love story , between seth and a human , a beautiful but sad heart surgeon named maggie ( meg ryan ) . 
he first sees her when he is in her operating room , waiting to lead the soul of her dying patient to heaven . 
maggie is distraught , doing everything in her power to stop the man from dying on her table , and seth is moved by her efforts and , more importantly , her overwhelming sadness when the patient dies . 
angels have the limited power to soothe humans in time of misery and pain , and seth does what he can with his invisible touch , but it's not enough . 
he wants to be with her and share her pain , not just stand back at a distance . 
he learns that the only way to fulfill his desire for human love and touch is for him to " fall " and become human . 
he learns this from another fallen angel , played by dennis franz ( " n . y . p . d . 
blue " ) in a touching and humorous performance . 
sitting at a diner together , franz tells cage's character about how wonderful it is to be human - to be able to taste food , feel another person's skin , smell the air , and most importantly , have a loving wife and children . 
of course , there is pain to go along with all this , but for seth , it will be worth it . 
 " city of angels " is something of a reinterpretation of wim wender's haunting 1988 film " wings of desire . " 
wenders' film was more like a poem - it was the feeling , the emotion that truly mattered over what actually happened . 
the americanized version moves the location from divided berlin to broken los angeles , and the emphasis shifts onto the relationship between the immortal angel and the mortal human . 
and , unlike most foreign films that are re-made into hollywood fare , it doesn't suffer extensive damage . 
this may be because director brad silberling ( " casper " ) and screenwriter dana stevens ( " blink " ) wanted to make " city of angels " its own movie - inspired by " wings of desire , " but not an attempt to copy it . 
and yet , " city of angels " is not a typical hollywood movie . 
it is beautifully filmed in lush colors by cinematographer john seale ( " the english patient " ) , whose sweeping aerial shots and golden lighting make los angeles into an almost unrecognizable new world . 
seale creates many striking visuals : in addition to the beach scene , there is a wonderful sequence in a circular library where all the angels appear at banisters all around , looking down at seth as he watches maggie walk by . 
while the film travels along a charted plot , it takes time to develop its characters and situations ; it sheds light on the boundaries between what is earthly and what is heavenly , and shows just how thin those boundaries are . 
both cage and ryan give soulful , soft-spoken performances . 
ryan , who is usually so bouncy and energetic , truly embodies a sadness that can only be alleviated by a heavenly touch . 
cage projects all his desire and longing to be human in simple , heartfelt gazes , and speaks with the comforting , knowing voice that only an angel could have . 
what is most striking about " city of angels " is that stevens has added a new ending to the screenplay , which is both unexpected and challenging . 
it's not a formulaic hollywood ending , because it is both sad and uplifting at the same time . 
it doesn't give the audience what it thinks it wants at the end of a romance . 
instead , it offers something much better , something that speaks to the depths of what it means to be human and alive . 
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an eclectic collection of film reviews by james kendrick http : //www . bigfoot . com/~jimkendrick 
|| e-mail : jimkendrick@bigfoot . com 
