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Angels in America

  • TV Mini Series
  • 20032003
  • TV-MATV-MA
  • 5h 52m
IMDb RATING
8.1/10
28K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,073
383
Episode guide
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Al Pacino and Emma Thompson in Angels in America (2003)
Home Video Trailer from HBO Home Video
Play trailer0:31
4 Videos
56 Photos
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Romance

Several disparate but connected individuals go through the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.Several disparate but connected individuals go through the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.Several disparate but connected individuals go through the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.

IMDb RATING
8.1/10
28K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,073
383
  • Stars
    • Al Pacino
    • Meryl Streep
    • Emma Thompson
Top credits
  • Stars
    • Al Pacino
    • Meryl Streep
    • Emma Thompson
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 266User reviews
    • 22Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 11 Primetime Emmys
      • 65 wins & 43 nominations total

    Episodes6

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated
    1 Season
    2003

    Videos4

    A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Stories on Screen
    Clip 4:31
    A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Stories on Screen
    Angels in America
    Trailer 0:31
    Angels in America
    Angels In America
    Trailer 2:37
    Angels In America
    Angels in America
    Trailer 1:53
    Angels in America

    Photos56

    Patrick Wilson in Angels in America (2003)
    Al Pacino and Patrick Wilson in Angels in America (2003)
    Angels in America (2003)
    Mary-Louise Parker and Meryl Streep in Angels in America (2003)
    Jeffrey Wright in Angels in America (2003)
    Patrick Wilson in Angels in America (2003)
    Al Pacino and Patrick Wilson in Angels in America (2003)
    Emma Thompson in Angels in America (2003)
    Justin Kirk and Ben Shenkman in Angels in America (2003)
    Al Pacino in Angels in America (2003)
    Emma Thompson and Justin Kirk in Angels in America (2003)
    Angels in America (2003)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Al Pacino
    Al Pacino
    • Roy Cohnas Roy Cohn
    6 episodes6 eps • 2003
    Meryl Streep
    Meryl Streep
    • Hannah Pittas Hannah Pitt…
    6 episodes6 eps • 2003
    Emma Thompson
    Emma Thompson
    • Nurse Emilyas Nurse Emily…
    5 episodes5 eps • 2003
    Mary-Louise Parker
    Mary-Louise Parker
    • Harper Pittas Harper Pitt
    6 episodes6 eps • 2003
    Justin Kirk
    Justin Kirk
    • Prior Walteras Prior Walter…
    6 episodes6 eps • 2003
    Jeffrey Wright
    Jeffrey Wright
    • Mr. Liesas Mr. Lies…
    6 episodes6 eps • 2003
    Ben Shenkman
    Ben Shenkman
    • Louis Ironsonas Louis Ironson
    6 episodes6 eps • 2003
    Patrick Wilson
    Patrick Wilson
    • Joe Pittas Joe Pitt
    6 episodes6 eps • 2003
    Brian Markinson
    Brian Markinson
    • Martin Helleras Martin Heller
    5 episodes5 eps • 2003
    James Cromwell
    James Cromwell
    • Roy's Doctoras Roy's Doctor
    4 episodes4 eps • 2003
    Melissa Wilder
    • Louis's Sisteras Louis's Sister
    4 episodes4 eps • 2003
    Fatima Da Silva
    • Cousin Dorisas Cousin Doris
    4 episodes4 eps • 2003
    Florence Kastriner
    • Louis' Motheras Louis' Mother
    4 episodes4 eps • 2003
    Howard Pinhasik
    Howard Pinhasik
    • Louis' Fatheras Louis' Father
    4 episodes4 eps • 2003
    Robin Weigert
    Robin Weigert
    • Mormon Motheras Mormon Mother
    3 episodes3 eps • 2003
    David Zayas
    David Zayas
    • Superas Super
    3 episodes3 eps • 2003
    Flotilla Debarge
    • Singer in Churchas Singer in Church
    3 episodes3 eps • 2003
    Sterling Brown
    • Orderlyas Orderly
    3 episodes3 eps • 2003
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Angels in America: Part I - Millennium Approaches
    8.8
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    Feud: Bette and Joan
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    Longtime Companion
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    Love! Valour! Compassion!
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    Storyline

    Edit
    God has abandoned Heaven. It's 1985: the Reagans are in the White House and Death swings the scythe of AIDS. In Manhattan, Prior Walter ( Justin Kirk ) tells Louis ( Ben Shenkman ), his lover of four years, he's ill; Louis bolts. As disease and loneliness ravage Prior, guilt invades Louis. Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson ), an attorney who is Mormon and Republican, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn (Al Pacino ) toward a job at the Justice Department. Pitt and Cohn are in the closet: Pitt out of shame and religious turmoil, Cohn to preserve his power and access. Pitt's wife Harper (Mary-Louise Parker) is strung out on Valium, aching to escape a sexless marriage. An angel invites Prior to be a prophet in death. Pitt's mother and Belize (Jeffrey Wright), a close friend, help Prior choose. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>
    • hiv
    • death
    • loneliness
    • valium
    • heaven
    • 169 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • The messenger has arrived.
    • Genres
      • Drama
      • Fantasy
      • Romance
    • Certificate
      • TV-MA
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Shortly before his death in 2014, executive producer and director Mike Nichols revealed that out of all of the movies he had directed in his lifetime, he considered this to be his magnum opus.
    • Goofs
      Roy Cohn is depicted as passing away in a New York hospital. In real life, Cohn died in Bethesda, Maryland.
    • Quotes

      Harper Pitt: I don't understand why I'm not dead. When your heart breaks, you should die.

    • Crazy credits
      Person Generally in Charge of Everything Aaron Geller
    • Connections
      Edited from Godzilla (1998)
    • Soundtracks
      Shall We Gather At The River?
      (hymn written in 1864)

      Music and Lyrics by Robert Lowry (1826-1899)

      Performed by Meryl Streep and choir

    User reviews266

    Review
    Top review
    If you meet some requirements, you may find it the most moving thing you ever saw
    It seems to me that to be able to experience the full depth of this production, you need to meet a few requirements. First, you need to know that this is a PLAY. Like in any play, texts are delivered that you will not easily hear in everyday life (nobody makes up 'Antebellum Insufficiently Developed Sexorgans' as an alternative interpretation of AIDS during a split second in mid-conversation). Shakespeare isn't realistic in that way, Oscar Wilde isn't, Ibsen isn't, and nor is Tony Kushner. All of them are however extremely realistic in that they highlight essential aspects of the human condition in ways no other medium can achieve. Second, you need an ability to look beyond the surface. Reading reviews of AinA I'm stunned at how simplistically literal some people take it (maybe that explains why you've got Bush for president over there?). This play isn't about gays, it isn't about AIDS, it isn't about Jews and it isn't about Mormons. Its theme is the necessity for people to change, the scariness of change, while most of us would prefer to just let things stay as they are. That's what Louis Ironson wants and makes him run away from his sick lover (consider that: the superficially leftist intellectual is in fact a thorough conservative, more so than the apparently conservative Joe Pitt). That's what the angels want: unchangeable status quo; all the human history making tempted their god to leave heaven, and they want him back. This is the crux of AinA's undeniable political agenda: it sets out to show how conservatism of necessity thwarts and corrupts human nature. Oh yes, that's a third requirement: you really shouldn't belong to that curious group of people who consider the bible a god-given record of factual happenings rather than a piece of ancient mythology: you are likely to be shocked. Kushner's fantasies on biblical themes are very original indeed, and fit into a long tradition of reinterpreting ancient mythology in contemporary contexts. The church could learn a thing or two from him.

    Personally, I was very deeply moved by the experience of watching this (as I was by the play nearly ten years ago). I'm sure that, unlike some people seem to think, you don't need to be like the gay men portrayed in AinA to be able to stand it, let alone like it (a ridiculous notion anyway: as a gay man I constantly watch movies about heterosexuals, and am often touched by them). I'm a Dutchman, I know New York only from a few brief visits, and though I'm gay my lifestyle has very little in common with that of the men in AinA; none of that prevented me from being deeply engrossed in this story. Its themes, as said, are universal (if you doubt that this play is essentially about YOU, the closing scene ought to convince you otherwise; if that scene makes you cringe, as I saw somebody complain, you've not really been watching). Its texts are wonderfully written, unafraid of pathos, farce and intellectualism alike, and fiercely direct in their expression. The acting of the whole cast is formidable. Pacino may be redoing previous roles (Devil's Advocate sprang to mind), but boy, does this Roy Cohn have clout, and in the end, how peculiarly difficult it is to really hate him… Patrick Wilson is the perfect pretty boy with a dark secret, and knows how to bring his torment across. Marie-Louise Parker at times has you wondering if she's really been taking pills (and I mean that as a compliment). There simply can't be another Louis than Ben Shenkman (that role was seriously miscast in the Dutch theater production I saw in '95), and Justin Kirk plays his taxing role with utter conviction. Jeffrey Wright goes all out on his ex-drag-queen-with-an-attitude character, and yet succeeds to remain believable as a person. Streep and Thompson are no less great, but I really feel the laurels in the end belong with Parker, Shenkman, Kirk and Wilson. To top it all off, the imagery is beautiful and full of fantasy, without going overboard on bloodless digital effects (it is still a play, remember). The atmosphere is often subtly and hauntingly unreal. And Thomas Newman's score – well, like any truly good music, words cannot do it justice.
    helpful•320
    47
    • MartinPh
    • Sep 25, 2004

    FAQ1

    • Are there any openly gay actors in this HBO production?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 7, 2003 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Italy
    • Official site
      • HBO
    • Languages
      • English
      • Hebrew
      • Aramaic
      • Yiddish
      • French
    • Also known as
      • 美國天使
    • Filming locations
      • Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Avenue Pictures
      • HBO Films
      • Panorama Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      5 hours 52 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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