Word: angelo
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...Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly. The Brooklyn-based R.-and-B. duo Groove Theory, whose songs combine pure pop appeal with slightly avant-garde musical touches, received heavy airplay for its smash single Tell Me and has a new song, Keep Tryin', on the charts. Singer D'Angelo draws fans with music that adds a laid-back '90s twist to the sound of '70s soul. And a multi-act tour is being planned for this summer that's being billed as a kind of Soul-apalooza that will feature the Fugees, the group Spearhead and other cutting-edge...
Soon after rejoining his friends, Angelo decides to return alone to Italy, only to discover that the border has been closed off for fear of the cholera. He also meets the young woman who helped him, whom, we do not learn until much later, is called Pauline de Theus, and is the wife of a marquis. He assists her in crossing the border, and insists on riding with her as guide and protector. As the two journey on together they build a curious kind of relationship, which never develops into intimacy since each quickly encounters a quality of deep reserve...
...story as a whole is pretty similar to Angelo's journeys: both are given a certain amount of momentum by chases, deaths, fights with mobs and soldiers, but remain essentially aimless, lacking in direction and overarching purpose. Emotional and psychological themes are also, for the most part, given short shrift; threads are taken up for awhile that eventually go nowhere. There is a childhood friend who betrays Angelo to the Austrians, but if this is meant to be a poignant disillusionment, it's too halfhearted to strike any chords. Angelo and Pauline are each haunted by outside characters--his mother...
...other major theme of the movie, that of the deadly epidemic, is hammered home with graphic zeal that stirs more repulsion than pity. At regular intervals, some random victim will appear and proceed to die horribly in spite of all Angelo's heroic efforts, suspending the viewer in a permanent state of ghoulish expectation. Those not killed by the cholera are reduced to panic-stricken animals, ready to turn on anyone suspected of spreading the dread disease. Oddly enough, this aspect of human nature is portrayed in a purely comic manner, highlighted by a brief but very funny cameo appearance...
...death. In terms of plot, the crisis is fairly predictable, and takes the easy way out. However, it culminates in a weirdly erotic scene fusing death and sensuality with a frankness which may jar those who were expecting a different kind of erotic climax. Admittedly, it effectively forces Angelo to finally shake off the constraints of his pride--and the rigid code he has used as a shield against his own feelings. But the remainder of the movie seems to run out on itself, and the ending, though possibly meant to be subtly moving, is only disappointing. "Horseman...