Michael Winterbottom has a track record of telling stories in a different and interesting way. He adapted, along with long-time collaborator Frank Cottrell Boyce, the apparently unreadable novel Tristram Shandy into the outstanding 'A Cock And Bull Story'. This was after his novel approach to telling the story of Manchester music guru Tony Wilson in '24 Hour Party People'.
So you know not to expect a straightforward telling of the Meredith Kercher tragedy, or a proposed solution to what actually happened. Instead Mr Winterbottom concentrates on a director's artistic dilemmas in trying to make a film about the story.
An admirable intention, but unfortunately this film is more interesting when it is just telling the basic story from the viewpoint of the media covering it. I had high hopes forty minutes in that I would be starting my list of 'great Michael Winterbottom films not starring Steve Coogan.'
But it starts to drag and becomes less focused. The Dante references were lost on me I'm afraid, and they seemed to become increasingly important.
I'm a shallow guy, and I sometimes measure how much I've enjoyed a film by when I first look at my watch. I didn't look at my watch during 'Face Of An Angel', but I guessed a running time of well over 120 minutes and was surprised it was only 100.
A decent film, but could have been more. I did like the end though, and the poignant significance it gave to the title.
RIP Meredith Kercher.
So you know not to expect a straightforward telling of the Meredith Kercher tragedy, or a proposed solution to what actually happened. Instead Mr Winterbottom concentrates on a director's artistic dilemmas in trying to make a film about the story.
An admirable intention, but unfortunately this film is more interesting when it is just telling the basic story from the viewpoint of the media covering it. I had high hopes forty minutes in that I would be starting my list of 'great Michael Winterbottom films not starring Steve Coogan.'
But it starts to drag and becomes less focused. The Dante references were lost on me I'm afraid, and they seemed to become increasingly important.
I'm a shallow guy, and I sometimes measure how much I've enjoyed a film by when I first look at my watch. I didn't look at my watch during 'Face Of An Angel', but I guessed a running time of well over 120 minutes and was surprised it was only 100.
A decent film, but could have been more. I did like the end though, and the poignant significance it gave to the title.
RIP Meredith Kercher.