CinemaNow - Angel Blue

This is a raw and edgy movie that lends visceral emotions to almost every scene. The plotline about an older, married man having affair with a teenaged girl is the background. But the foreground is filled with erotic energy, violence, and the stigmata of the small town when everyone discovers the affair. Cap all of this off with a racial divide that surfaces when the local officers refuse to help because Angel and her family are Latino. The filmography is edgy and the violent scenes are so real you'd swear this was a snuff film. The scene where Dennis and Angel are going at it in the bathroom definitely brings this film on the same level as Lolita, but on a smaller budget. Dennis seems so much like a generic good guy and respectable townperson that you really witness his downfall when the rest of the town turns against him. Angel is so sweet and innocent that you wonder whether she is truly aware of the web of complexity spinning around her. You really question whether she got a chance to grow up. Or did she become sucked into the tragedies waiting for her around the corner in her naive desire to be recognized and treated as an adult? This movie is a coming-of-age film, and for those as old as Dennis, it's about never knowing what will happen to you despite being older and supposedly wiser. Is Dennis in love with this teenage girl? The questions are never answered and the movie lets the viewer make the judgment call. And like all good movies, it presents the facts to you and never supports any particular conclusion. Life is simply too complex to be black and white. The storyline has been done to death a million times, but you should watch it for the visceral emotions depicted in each tragedy. As life goes, lots of things happen in your backyard, but a great movie allows you to escape and walk in someone else's shoes.