Angels in America (2003)

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Directed by Mike Nichols.

Starring Al Pacino, Mary-Louise Parker, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, Justin Kirk, Ben Shenkman, Patrick Wilson.

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The epic HBO miniseries Angels in America is directed by Mike Nichols and written by the play's author, Tony Kushner. This six-part drama is adapted from the two full-length award-winning plays (Part I: The Millennium Approaches and Part II: Perestroika) originally performed on Broadway in 1993. Set in New York City during the mid-'80s, the story follows the interconnected lives of several people affected by the AIDS crisis, intense spiritual experiences, and the Reagan Administration. Newcomer Justin Kirk plays Prior Walter, a young man dying of AIDS. Things are made worse when he's abandoned by his lover, Jewish court clerk Louis Ironson (Ben Shenkman). Then he's visited by an Angel (Emma Thompson), who keeps crashing through his roof and insisting that he's a prophet. Meanwhile, conservative power monger Roy Cohn (Al Pacino) is also dying of AIDS, but he's in serious denial about it. While in the hospital, he's continually visited by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg (Meryl Streep), a woman he had sent to the electric chair. Roy's protégé is Mormon lawyer Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), who also tries to deny his own homosexuality. Joe's estranged wife Harper (Mary-Louise Parker) suffers from a Valium addiction and has an acute sensitivity to the world around her. Joe leaves her to start up a relationship with Louis, who works in his building. Jeffrey Wright reprises his stage role of the trusty friend and nurse Belize. Angels in America first aired in two parts on HBO during December of 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Gay Pride Picks
by unemployedwaif in Queer Cinema

loved it.

"In response to the egregiously vacuous post about Gay Pride by the SpoutBlog, I decided to go ahead a give a few cinematic selections for those celebrating the Gay Pride festivities this month. Feel free to add some of your own selections. Angels in America An epic made for television cinematic event that is loaded with fantastic performances by the likes of Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Mary-Louise Parker, Emma Thompson and Patrick WIlson. Set in the 1980's amidst the onset of AIDS, the growing intolerance of homosexuality and the struggle by the LGBT community to gain acceptable, Angels in America is a must-see. But I'm a Cheerleader Hilarious comedy about the pitfalls of coming out and learning to accept everything that that entails. Loggerheads Overlooked drama with an amazing soundtrack. Bring the tissues. Paris is Burning Documentary about life in New York in the late 1980's and early 1990's for disaffected gay people attempting to create a nurturing environment where their ec ... " [More]

10 Actors Who Changed Ethnicity ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"I keep forgetting that Mike Myers is not actually playing an Indian in The Love Guru, and yet I’m constantly reminded by the film’s commercials, which show that ridiculous shot of a little kid’s body with Myers’ giant head digitally superimposed onto it. Really, Myers’ character (Pitka) is a white American who is left on the doorstep of an Indian ashram when he’s a child. Then he’s raised as Indian, I guess (or simply Hindu, but then why the accent?). Apparently the character, Pitka, couldn’t simply look and talk like Myers. He had to have that silly accent and the clothes and the facial hair, despite the fact that Deepak Chopra, who partially inspired the character (and who appears in the movie), is able to wear jeans and be clean-shaven. Because who would believe Myers as an Indian guru with just the voice, the clothes and his baby face? Of course, Myers is not the first actor to wear or grow a beard and/or mustache in order to take on the guise of another ethnicity. Sure, it’s a ... " [More]

Angels in America (2003, USA, M ...
by CinemaRian in CinemaRian Blog

hasn't rated it.

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"OK, you might argue that this is a TV miniseries and not a movie, but since The Decalouge is considered a film and not a TV show, why shouln't this? It's got a movie director and cinema actors, and "feels" like a movie, so it's a movie. Angels in America is a six-hour, two-part adaption of Tony Kushner's award winning play of the same name. Obviously, a plot synopsis for any work of this length is going to touch the surface, but I will try anyway. The movie concerns an ensamble of characters in the mid-80's. The two main characters are Prior Walters (Justin Kirk) and Lou Ironside (Ben Shenkman), a gay couple who has just learned that Prior has AIDS. Other plotlines involves Roy Cohn (Al Pacino), a real-life homophobic lawyer who is actually gay and ill with AIDS, Harper Pitt (Mary Louise-Parker), a Mormon housewife addicted to painkillers, her husband Joe (Patrick Wilson), a Reagon consertaive who is an associate of Cohn's and also a closet bi-sexual (though neither know the ... " [More]

Beautifully Done
by lawgrrl07 in JUMP CUT

loved it.

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"I must admit that I was terribly worried about the film version of Kushner's brutal masterpiece...and then I saw it. It lost absolutely nothing in the translation to the screen. It's still tortured, brilliant, devastating. A must see. " [More]

Spellbound
by TommyAllen in TommyAllen Blog

loved it.

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"Finally nice to see a well thought out and finely written screenplay about an interesting time in America. " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

loved it.

Billing itself as a major television event, Tony Kushner's award-winning play Angels in America is an ambitious project, to say the least. Fortunately, it's directed by theatrically trained veteran filmmaker Mike Nichols (who's enjoyed much success with stage-to-screen adaptations ever since his first film, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, in 1966). As a six-hour epic aired in two long segments, Angels marked a scheduling precedent on HBO. Such a huge project is destined to become overwhelming, and this is no exception. The high language, splashy special effects, and supernatural dream logic are surely too much for the casual cable TV viewer. However, those who appreciated the Broadway smash in 1993 will most likely be delighted by the careful construction and presentation of the source material in this version. Although it's quite a task to top the original Tony-winning Broadway actors, this cast is full of well-known names who are up to the challenge. Two of the biggest stars on the roster, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson, seem to be having the most fun in their showy multiple roles. Thompson gets to shout flowery lines while in midair, and Streep is just a doll as the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg. As Roy Cohn, Al Pacino gets to play yet another despicable creature, while Mary-Louise Parker is as good as ever playing a long-suffering wife. Relative newcomers Justin Kirk, Patrick Wilson, and Ben Shenkman are all appropriately handsome leads involved in a love triangle, while Jeffrey Wright trumps them all by reprising his stage role of down-to-earth yet flamboyant nursemaid Belize. All of the performers are top-notch at delivering Kushner's poetic prose. Admittedly, it's difficult to view the subject matter in light of the political era in which it was written -- especially given that the state of the world has since worsened (considering the role that AIDS, conservative politics, and religious intolerance have played since the '80s). When seen as a period piece, however, Angels in America is a beautifully excessive drama that seems to have arrived at just the right time. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Tags: death , relationships , hbo-film , aids , angel
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