city of angels is the kind of love story that i enjoy the most : thought-provoking , moving , and completely unsentimental . 
i find it interesting that this film has been released the same day as my giant , which is a film that is undone completely by its wretched sentimentality . 
city of angels is a wonderful film , enhanced by interesting and well-rounded characters and some of the most immersive imagery of the last couple of years . 
it's a love story that takes the familiar angel themes and makes them new and necessary to the story , and avoids most of the cliches we're so used to seeing in films like this . 
city of angels is an apparently loose remake of wim wenders' 1988 film wings of desire . 
i have yet to see wings of desire , so i am , unfortunately , unable to make a comparison of the two . 
i have heard , however , that city of angels is dissimilar from the original in numerous ways , which makes me glad that this film isn't a rip-off of its source material . 
nicolas cage stars as seth , an angel who , like all of his angel counterparts , is present to lead the dying to heaven ( or somewhere just like it ) . 
one day , he is forced to take the life of a patient of dr . maggie rice ( meg ryan ) , and his attention is called to her . 
the angels can make themselves seen to humans , but they can't experience any of the senses ( most importantly , touch ) . 
he shows himself to maggie , and she falls for him , unaware that he is slightly unavailable because of his apparition status . 
seth wants to become human so he can feel her . 
that's when he meets nathaniel messinger ( dennis franz ) , " former celestial messenger and recent addition to the human race . " 
 ( as a side note , i found messinger to be the most fascinating character , for i can only imagine how incredibly liberating it must be to live knowing what lies beyond death . ) 
messinger explains to seth that it is possible for angels to become human . 
seth manages to convince maggie that he is an angel ( i know , it sounds ridiculous , but the scene in which she finds out is exceptionally well-done ) ; after much deliberation , she tells him that she could only be with a man who can feel . 
this , of course , is when seth decides to take the plunge ( literally ) from a building ; when he wakes up from the fall , he is human , and happy to feel what it's like to have a split lip and blood oozing from his forehead . 
since i love this film so much , i'll make a minor note that it certainly isn't perfect . 
although it is original and mesmerizing , it does fall prey to a few of the cliches of the genre . 
the plotting of the story by writer dawn steel is rather formulaic ( though the details are what make the story excellent , and steel has done a great job with them ) . 
the ending , too , could have been more powerful and less predictable . 
these elements are minor , though , and barely detracted from my overall enjoyment of city of angels . 
the acting is superb from everyone involved . 
this is perhaps my second-favorite performance from cage ( my favorite being the rock ) . 
he's quiet and pensive , and his eyes are engaging when he speaks his softly-toned words . 
he's perfect for a role like this , and at the same time he reassures us he's not bound by playing the psycho ( though he is good at it , as he shows in face/off ) . 
meg ryan is a powerful , enticing , and appealingly-chirpy actress , and her work here is some of her best . 
dennis franz , however , steals all of his scenes as the energetic former-angel . 
what i admire most about city of angels is its overall presentation . 
director brad silberling is a talented man , and he knows that a story like this is driven by the characters , rather than forced sentimentality . 
his direction is steady , and he shows this in just about every scene : near the beginning , maggie has to tell a mother and her two children that their father is dead . 
there is no music or elaborate camera work ; we simply see the reactions of the characters to the information . 
this is the way stories should be told , and the strength of scenes resonates more completely when the emotions are real . 
the film also appeals to the senses in a way that few love stories do . 
cinematographer john seale ( the english patient ) provides some of the most stunning images i've seen on the big screen : hundreds of black-clad angels stand on a dim beach in the early morning hours ( just as an example ) . 
the music , by gabriel yared ( also of the english patient ) , is perfect for this film : it's quiet and moody music ( but not sentimental ! ) , and adds to the atmosphere and tone nicely . 
the visual presentation of city of angels is easily the best of 1998 so far . 
all of this adds up to a film that is instantly set apart from other members of this genre . 
it's a film that relies on character development and imagery to get the story across--the excellent actors and the professional production values make city of angels one of those rare films that both entertains and instigates thought simultaneously .