Romantic
dramas are a genre overflowing with uninspired ideas and woefully regrettable
performances. Rarely are these films approached with humanity and nuance,
with many artists opting for a quick cash out from rom-com date nights.
Then there are the remarkable exceptions. Peter Lee's wonderfully
authentic and raw debut Angelfish is a wonderful slice of New York life,
that tells an all too familiar tale with characters who are so real, they walk
off the screen and into the viewer's heart.
Brendan
and Eva, from different neighborhoods in the Bronx, cautiously, hopelessly fall
in love. What follows is a story about overcoming obstacles and taking
chances when the outcome is uncertain. This is a simple, beautifully told
story that everyone has scene dozens of times. The difference is in how
real every frame, ever breath, every look is. Jimi Stanton (Brendan) and
Princess Nokia (Eva) are pure wonder to watch. Their organic, undeniable
chemistry is painfully restrained, symbolizing a lifetime of struggles and
heartbreaks. Stanton has a sense of underlying anger that never overflows
while Nokia is filled with passion and creativity that is stifled by perceived
familial obligations. The power of this film is that it is as it
is. There is no melodrama. While, admittedly, the story checks off
the romance boxes one at a time, it does so in a perfectly muted manner,
letting the viewer focus only on the principles. These are people whom you are
rooting for from the jump.
Jamal
Solomon's patient cinematography has a vibrant energy that instantly puts the
viewer at ease. Slow, meandering shots of Eva and Brendan walking,
discover hidden paradises as they also discover one another...this is what it
means to find love. Esteban Aburto and Erin Greenwell’s editing has
a rhythm to it that binds Lee’s screenplay together with the sights and sounds
of a lived in, but never used up New York.
Now
available on Tubi, Angelfish is a heartwarming film about real
people. There are no clichés, no monologues of love conquers all.
Everything is left on the table for the viewer to assemble themselves. A
pair of wonderfully understated performances entwine to create a New York love
story for the ages about immigrants and impoverished families who struggle to
not only survive, but to find their place in a world filled with heartbreak and
disappointment. The wonder is in how this
picture acknowledges these truths without preaching and opts to overcome them
with love and acceptance.
--Kyle Jonathan
--Kyle Jonathan