City of Angels

Brad Silberling loosely remade Wings of Desire, the 1987 French and German co-production Wim Wenders shot in Berlin. The angel Seth stands beside dying people in Los Angeles and chooses to let a heart surgeon see him. The adaptation keeps one thing and drops another. Angels still live in libraries and wear the long coats Wenders and his crew worked out, but the black and white they see in the original is gone, and the ending now lands harsher. Producer Dawn Steel approached Wenders for the rights in 1989, and the project passed through Disney and Turner before settling at Warner Bros. Steel died before audiences saw it, and the film is dedicated to her. Small decisions carry the logic. On Malibu beach, angels leaving no marks made the sand look too hard, so their footprints stay briefly visible and are then erased. The mirror was shot again without the actors so Nicolas Cage’s reflection could be removed. The songs outlived the film. Alanis Morissette’s Uninvited took two Grammys at the 41st ceremony; the Goo Goo Dolls track Iris was nominated for record and song of the year and won neither. A good fit if you want mortality argued as a gain, then tested in the last reel. Not for anyone who cannot forgive Los Angeles standing in for Berlin.