"Schatten der Engel" or "Shadow of Angels" is a West German / Swiss co-production from 1976, so this movie has its 40th anniversary this year. The writer and director is the late Swiss filmmaker Daniel Schmid and he got help with the script from a certain Rainer Werner Fassbinder here. The latter also played a crucial role in terms of acting when it comes to this film. It is one of the fairly rare occasions when Fassbinder is not directing but just playing, and writing of course. His impact on the movie is easy to see as the dialogues are exactly in a way that you would expect them in a Fassbinder film. They are filled with obscenities and vulgar language, but there is also quite some depth in here when it comes to the characters and their emotions, what they feel and how they interact with each other. It may see completely void of respect at times, but the strong language also means strong emotion in a way. The movie runs for 100 minutes and includes a handful of actors that regularly starred next to Fassbinder, such as Caven, Lommel, Hoven and Hermann. I personally cannot say, however, that I really cared a whole lot about any of their performance or about the plot and story in general, maybe because this film was really more a collection of scenes and impressions than really one with a well-refined story and a memorable plot, or a plot at all for that matter. It's okay for Fassbinder completionists and certainly not a failure, but I myself have zero interest in watching it ever again. That's why I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
Review of Shadow of Angels
