A multitude of characters from São Paulo's social and cultural underworld are gathered in unusual encounters in "Angels of the Night". Artists,
drag queens, performers, actors and others who try to find some meaning into their lives either being by expressing themselves through art, love or even
crimes. The circle of acquaintances and lovers are formed by a model (Zezé Motta) who invests both on the world of arts and also some criminal
activities; a gay reporter (Marco Nanini) who returns from New York to meet with a former lover (Guilherme Leme), who works as a hustler; a famous
decadent actress (Marília Pêra); a sociology student (Bê Valério) working on her thesis on underground characters; a theatre director (Antônio Fagundes)
who seduces a young actress (Aida Lerner) who wants to be part of his new play; and the drag queen Lola (Chiquinho Brandão), a popular performer who's
having a nervous breakdown.
Through the night those characters have some bumpy meetings, some happy encounters as well and the movie challenges audiences through its
metacinema language where fact and fiction clash at each other with factual events that become a film or the idea for a play or they can also become
a reality to them. A murder that happens on a play can also be repeated in a life situation and vice-versa, and true artists know exactly that's how
their best works are created when life is being transported to the screen or the stage.
In his only experience directing a feature film, writer and director Wilson Barros creates an intriguing and surreal work where audiences
are invited to figure out what's real and what's not with those characters and their realities. He breaks conventions time and again and the final
result is a fascinating, sexy and humored study on the human condition and the importance of art in everyone's lives. His images of a bright city at
night is a visual spectacle that has a highly cinematic view but also one that feels as if showing a documentary about São Paulo of the late 1980's,
just like Chico Botelho did in "Cidade Oculta".
There's humor, there's danger, there's romance and a powerful social discourse about people, their relations and what they consider important.
Sequences such as the meeting of the hustler with the actress where he talks about his love for the reporter, and later on their dancing moment paying a
tribute to the MGM classic "The Band Wagon"; or Lola's loud rant while escaping the cops in the rain, are some of the most fascinating and well-written
moments in the history of Brazilian cinema. And there are plenty more, and the whole ensamble cast is a pure delight to watch (Leme, Marília and
Brandão most notably). The magic of movies is truly present in this one and I loved it all the way. 10/10.
