Telluride Film Festival Presents: El Angel (Argentina, 2018)
Thursday, January 24 – One SHOW Only – 6:15pm at the Nugget Theater.
The movie is Unrated. 118 minutes. Tickets are $10. No Nugget passes, please.
Directed by Luis Ortega and produced by Pedro Almodóvar, El Angel (“The Angel”) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was selected as the Argentine entry for Best Foreign Language film at the 91st Academy Awards. The film was inspired by the true story of Carlos Robledo Puch, an Argentine serial killer who the press dubbed, “The Angel of Death.” “El Angel is sensuous enough to suggest the work of Pedro Almodovar,” wrote NPR.
Carlitos (Lorenzo Ferro) is a baby-faced, seventeen-year-old who, in the early 1970’s, with his sensual swagger, becomes a deadly combination of seduction and murderous impulse. The New York Times wrote, “The movie opens with the willowy Carlitos, whose soft features and curls eventually earn him his nickname, breaking into a house, dancing in it and then stealing a motorcycle, which he tells his mother (Cecilia Roth) was a loan from a friend. People are always lending you things, she remarks.”
Having begun his life of crime as a thief, Carlitos meets Ramon (Chino Darin) at a new school and shows off to get his attention. Together, the two young men launch into a journey of discovery, sexuality, love and crime. The deadly spree escalates until Carlitos is finally apprehended and because of his beauty, becomes an overnight celebrity.
Accused of over forty thefts and eleven homicides, Carlos Robledo Puch is now the longest- serving prisoner in the history of Argentina. “From the prison cell where he has languished for over 40 years, Puch recently suggested that Quentin Tarantino should film his life story with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead,” reported The Hollywood Reporter, “Angel may not quite live up to the fantasy Hollywood biopic that he craves, but it is still a stylish period piece boasting solid performances, colorful visuals and a terrific vintage soundtrack.”
