Every wannabe filmmaker learns that Hollywood doesn’t hand out miracles. It takes a little piece of your soul first, and writer-director Hungyu Kuo turns that cutthroat business into the actual premise of Angels Near Death. A group of strangers gets shoved right up to the edge of life and back, and not one of them walks away unscathed.
Hollywood isn’t exactly the dream factory it once was, and our hero, Oscar White (Bryan Scamman), knows it better than anyone. He’s getting by as a set dresser for other productions, not as the filmmaker he dreamed of being. Today’s job is a dining set of exquisite porcelain and an equally exquisite flower arrangement. Then there’s the fake blood, but the DP doesn’t think it looks real enough, and in frustration, Oscar slits his wrists to give a more authentic look…which gets him 5150’d.
While cuffed to his hospital bed, Oscar is visited by a naughty nurse, Victoria Young (Kaitlin Sanders), who figures out the reason he’s there. She gives him reason to live as her visit turns into a full-on make-out session. The pair is caught by a real nurse, Henry Todd (Sébastien Louis), who happens to be a former film student with Oscar and Victoria. Yes, the hospital room romp was all an act for “inspiration,” and the three discuss getting back into the game, but Henry has given up his dreams, even as he dates tabloid reporter Alice Booker (Llana Barron), who reported the story of Oscar’s real-blood set dressing.
As crazy as this story sounds, our heroes find themselves in a hazy spiritual world where dreams go to die, and nobody quite belongs anymore. Their existence unfolds in a world made of the scripts they wrote across genres, from drama to horror. With their Hollywood dreams now on life support, having lived through several near-death experiences, the cast pursues a single shared mission — to claw their way back into their bodies and live the lives they were supposed to have.
Alice Booker (Llana Barron) lies still in bed as a mysterious hand reaches toward her in Angels Near Death.
“…in frustration, Oscar slits his wrists to give a more authentic look…which gets him 5150’d.”
I’m sure that, from the synopsis, you can see that Hungyu Kuo’s Angels Near Death is a strange little tale made for the cinephiles in all of us. The film is essentially a series of scenes from almost every film genre, with our heroes literally as dead as their Hollywood dreams. Filmmaker Kuo made the film as his student visa neared its expiration. He says he “made this film—not as a goodbye, but as a gift. A gentle reminder that cinema still matters.”
I have to admit, Angels Near Death is a weird one, but in its weirdness, Kuo’s love of film seeps out of every frame. He captures the spirit of every genre and circles around the theme of following your dream. The story never veers from this theme, and I found myself engaged with every character and odd circumstance.
As a production, it was done on the cheap and certainly feels like a student film. Kuo was given enough equipment and production space to be dangerous. On top of that, he has an eager cast of actors who give it their all. Bryan Scamman is perfect as the unrelenting wannabe filmmaker. As Victoria, Kaitlin Sanders is the very hot femme fatale, and Llana Barron nails the hardened Hollywood journalist.
Angels Near Death is one of those productions where the earnestness of the cast and crew bleeds onto the screen, and it’s hard not to have fun with them. It’s a love letter to the growing number of starving artists trying to make it in an industry that itself feels like it’s dying too.
For screening information, visit the Angels Near Death official website.
"…our heroes literally as dead as their Hollywood dreams."
