Anna - A Review of the 2019 Luc Besson Film on BLU RAY starring Sasha Luss, Cillian Murphy, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans and Lera Abova...

"...Pawn Takes Queen..."

"Anna" is a stiletto of a movie – long-legged, elegant and you definitely don’t want to mess with that girl's pointy ending.

French filmmaker and Director LUC BESSON has been here before with "Angel-A" (2005) and "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blonc-Sec" (2010) – two cracking little films that bristle with his style, clever story lines and a flawed but ultimately beautiful and brave female lead (see reviews). Theorists, plagiarists and in fact anyone with an '...ist' in their bonnet will go on about yet another Atomic Blonde type movie - leggy girly with guns and lipstick and bruises and nude scenes (the staple for such films) engages in protracted battle sequences with dodgy unaccountable State forces and so on to a gore-fest finale – and deep down I'd concede they probably have a point. There have also been rumours flying around about on set shenanigans while "Anna" was being made which has meant it may have slipped through the nets in this horribly woke world we're presently in.

But I think Besson is different. I get the impression that he likes women, adores them even. And I'd say that it makes a genuine difference here. When most of the other films depicting such characters have the feel of a user, Besson actual likes his creations and his female leads may start out sappy or even ordinary but they never end up that way. The actresses are given real meat to work with. They are always strong, do their own thing on their own terms and men - though they might like them to be nice or even half-decent and humane on occasion - had better keep their hearts, underpants and wits about them.

What also makes "Anna" work and so entertaining is the superb quad of leads: for the ladies there's the ludicrously beautiful Cillian Murphy and his f-yeah eyes (an absolute crush for many of my lady friends) playing CIA maverick Lenny Miller - a suit who is a lot smarter than the by-the-book company man he first appears to be. On the other side of his morally murky world are the ruthless yet possibly might–have-a heart duo of Helen Mirren and Luke Evans who recruit the young street junkie Anna into the Russian Secret Service. Mirren eats this stuff up – her old, smoke and be-damned Olga is stony faced and precise. Olga has only survived in this vicious man's world by being equally quick with a Bowie knife, Bear Trap or a poison ink-nib. Moreover, Olga will not let her bright new recruit Anna lapse for even a second into mistakes that will get her killed - whilst at the same time having to appear to tow the line for corrupt males officials who give her orders to eliminate supposed enemies of the state and not ask too many questions about the validity of such appraisals.

And then there's the Russian model Sasha Luss playing the lead role of Anna – the kind of sleek trophy totty that adorns the arms of drug dealers by swimming pools or Bond villains in biotechnology labs or the love interest in Kingsmen movies who carry a machine-gun umbrella in London's Saville Row. Only this time in real life our Sasha has actually trained in ballet and that elegance of movement shows in every scene. Sasha Russ is genetically gorgeous for sure - but Besson also knows that she has to be riveting in the role and at the same time exude a tremble of fragility and humanity – and Russ achieves all of it. This is an actress you want to watch. Plus our Sash gets to have fun in and out of expensive dresses, popping off baddies with silencers, skewering bodyguards in fancy restaurants with steak knives or a broken dinner plate, fighting Soviet soldiers in sewers, binning wigs – the usual slow Tuesday stuff for an International espionage agent.

So, beautiful but drifting Anna Poliatova realizes she has a chance to escape a world of user boyfriends and bedsit dime-bag deprivation if she goes with her new handler Alex Tchenkov (a superb Luke Wilson) and commits to years of espionage training. This will eventually turn her into a sort of bloodier version of Killing Eve machine Villanelle – same great outfits but without the jokey psycho streak. On graduation, promises are made of five years service and Anna soon adopts a cover in a Parisienne apartment with the gorgeous Lera Abova playing Maude, Anna's lesbian lover who is in love with Anna but also oblivious to where or what Anna is as she disappears for days on end for business trips. 

But soon Anna begins to realize that she may have traded one life of servitude to drugs for another serving the equally treacherous State and that there is always one more job, one more misery, one more heartless using of her skills that will never end. So as a child prodigy Chess Player, she begins to plot out minnow-moves that none of the bigger fish will see coming. Or will they? Is Olga always one step ahead of her and everybody in fact or is she a Ruskie patriot through and through to the point where Anna is just collateral damage?

If this all sounds a bit complicated for a Spy Action Thriller then actually it is. Besson frames his spiky tale in a series of flashbacks and flash forwards and replays where you begin to realize and see what is really going on. It's a clever and thrilling way to keep the story and action moving. The set pieces/fight sequences are suitably brill and cool and have of course silly body counts that no one seems to notice as they chow down on their oysters and linguini. Then as Anna begins to outplay or even break the hearts of her American and Russian men – you're more and more invested – rooting for her to win...or not...

In March 2020, the BLU RAY is clocking in at about £10 new, but will undoubtedly fall in price as these sort of titles always do, and the picture quality on it is spot-on.

I know many have been derisory about "Anna" - but damn I enjoyed it a bunch even if it isn't quite "Leon" or "Lucy". Top cast, clever story, great set pieces and Daddy's smart girl gets to play Chess too. 

 "Anna" can have my spy bra strap any day of the week...

“Angel-A” on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2009 Luc Besson Film

Here is a link to Amazon UK to get this BLU RAY at the best price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002BC9YY8

“…It’s What’s On The Inside That Matters…” 

Coming from Writer/Director LUC BESSON who gave the world the Sci-Fi/Indiana Jones extravaganzas “The Fifth Element” and “The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec” and tense/ballsy thrillers like “Taken”, “Nikita” and “Leon” – the pared-back almost serene “Angel-A” is not what you’d expect from this amazingly gifted Frenchman. Yet it so works.

Large part of the credit has to go to the casting one of his favourite lead actors JAMEL DEBBOUZE. Squat, cute, compelling – his lined crumpled features and stubbly chin are akin to a French Humphrey Bogart – the kind of actor whose face and watery eyes can express so much and have you routing for his character with an investment that feels personal. And like most Male Directors of a certain age - our Luc likes his leading ladies too (the prettier the better). Enter the extraordinary-looking RIE RASMUSSEN.

Jamel plays Andre Massau – an Algerian pint-sized low-life living in Paris who steals croissants from restaurant tables and owes money to Frank the Frenchman and Pedro the Spaniard. But unless Andre pays up more than 50,000 Euro by midnight Saturday – his body will be ‘everywhere’ on Sunday morning. Failing to find solace in the American Embassy (a green card he won in a Lottery), even the French Police won’t put him in Jail so he can be safe for a few days. Andre finally goes to the bridge overlooking the Seine and toys with the idea of ending it all. But annoyingly he’s not alone. A six-foot high stick-insect blond in a tight black party dress with a pearl necklace sporting legs that stretch six miles into the ground is also on the wrong side of the ornate railings about to do the same. With her tear-stained makeup - she jumps – Andre follows - pulls her to the embankment - and for saving her from the clutches of despair – she ‘gives’ herself to him for the whole of Sunday. But first she needs a cigarette…

The similarity between “Angel-A” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” with its message of intervention to show us the errors of our ways will not escape many – Besson has just updated the story to modern day living. His principal character Andre is a self-loathing loser who still has some good left inside him somewhere. He just desperately needs to learn to “breathe” and “live in the moment” – and who better to teach him than a 300-year old chain-smoking angel falling from the sky that looks like a high-class hooker. But as Andre watches Angela pimp herself out in a nightclub for 1000 Euro per sweaty leering client – he begins to see the consequences of his greed - and worse – how he is his own worst enemy (sharks he repays with her ill-gotten gains tap into his gullible nature again by flattery because they know it works).

Cleverly resisting flashy celestial scenes – special effects are kept to a minimum allowing story and character to be all. But as Andre’s eventful Sunday progresses - slowly Angela wakes him up (dialogue above) and after an ashtray reveal in a café - money worries don’t matter anymore because love is also in the air.

  

First up is the look of “Angel-A”. Shot in black and white in old-world Paris – the locations and city pulse are beautifully rendered on BLU RAY. Defaulted to 2.35:1 aspect – there are bars on the top and bottom – but even stretched to full screen – the picture is never anything less than cinematically fab (note: if you do extend the aspect – the English subtitles will go off-screen).

There’s an entertaining “Making Of” featurette that has interviews with Director, Producer JEROME LATEUR and the Cast, a “Making Of The Music For Angel-A” featuring composer ANJA GARBAREK and her musicians and a Theatrical Trailer.  English is the Subtitle for this French-language film.

“Angel-A” isn’t your typical box-office fare – but it is masterfully done – and will get to you more than you think. Flap your credit card’s wings for this one…