Search - Far Away, So Close on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Violence, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1993 DVD Release: 09/12/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: French, German Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 26 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 7 Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Psychological Drama, Heaven-Can-Wait Fantasies

Wim Wenders revisits his masterpiece Der Himmel Uber Berlin in this film which picks up several years after the original left off. Cassiel (Otto Sander) is an angel who watches over the lives of the people of recently reunified Berlin with Raphaella (Nastassja Kinski). Damiel (Bruno Ganz), Cassiel's former partner who opted to return to the land of the living in the first film, now lives happily as a pizza chef with the woman he loved and married, circus performer Marion (Solveig Dommartin). While angels are forbidden to directly intervene in the lives of humans, Cassiel impulsively breaks this rule when a little girl falls from the balcony of an apartment block, and he swoops down to catch her. Suddenly made flesh and blood, Cassiel has earned the enmity of Emit Flesti (Willem Dafoe), a sort of overseer of the angels on the physical plane. Emit makes it his business to make things difficult for Cassiel now that he's living among the humans, and after a period of alcoholism and imprisonment, Cassiel finds himself working for gangster Tony Baker (Horst Buchholz), who distributes weapons and pornography on the black market. However, Cassiel has a change of heart and decides to destroy Tony's stockpile in a bid to make the world a better place. Peter Falk, who played himself in Der Himmel Uber Berlin, makes a return appearance when a gallery shows the sketches that he was making in the first film; rock singer Lou Reed and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev also appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Otto Sander - Cassiel
Peter Falk - Himself
Nastassja Kinski - Raphaela
Heinz Rühmann - Chauffeur Konrad
Bruno Ganz - Damiel
Solveig Dommartin - Marion
Lou Reed - Himself
Willem Dafoe - Emit Flesti
Horst Buchholz - Tony Baker

Wim Wenders' follow-up to his classic Wings of Desire, Faraway, So Close comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1. French and German soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include an audio commentary by the director, production notes, and theatrical trailers. Although this film does not have the reputation of its predecessor, this disc is superb and will please fans of the film as well as the uninitiated. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide