''Desolation Angels'' is a 1995 independent film written and directed by Tim McCann. Note: Source says, "Mr. McCann won the top prize, the Merchant/Ivory Award, in October after his movie had its premiere before packed audiences in Telluride." The 1995 Telluride Film Festiva
was held in September 1995
and has no "Merchant/Ivory Award". The film premiered at the 1995 Telluride Film Festival. It then won the International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI Prize) at the Toronto International Film Festival and was accepted to the

Rotterdam Film Festival The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

Reception

In his review of ''Desolation Angels'' for '' Rolling Stone'', Peter Travers declared that "male ego is the demon in this blazingly provocative debut film from the gifted Tim McCann," and concluded that viewers "won’t stop talking about this one." Michael Wilmington of the '' Chicago Tribune'' praised the film as "an ultra-low budget drama of considerable accomplishment and sometimes extraordinary power" and wrote, "This is probably as devastating a portrayal and indictment of modern male insensitivity as any film has given us recently... One of the year’s more impressive debuts." Jonathan Rosenbaum of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'' described the film as "very unlike anything else in American filmmaking," deeming it "a film with an undeniable moral vision." The '' Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas called it "an utterly compelling portrait of depth and complexity," saying, "No wonder

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...

and

Barbet Schroeder Barbet Schroeder (born 26 August 1941) is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette. Since the late 1980s, he has dire ...

have joined forces in presenting Tim McCann’s knockout debut feature... A thoroughly unsettling and sensitive drama of acute psychological insight."

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...

of the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' wrote, "McCann’s grimly compelling ''Desolation Angels'' takes American independent filmmaking back to where it began – in the male angst of movies like John Cassavetes ''

Husbands A husband is a male in a marital relationship, who may also be referred to as a spouse. The rights and obligations of a husband regarding his spouse and others, and his status in the community and in law, vary between societies and cultures, ...

''." '' The Village Voice

Amy Taubin Amy Taubin (born September 10, 1938) is an American author and film critic. She is a contributing editor for two prominent film magazines, the British ''Sight & Sound'' and the American ''Film Comment''. She has also written regularly for ''The V ...

wrote of the film, "A wrenching, smart and bleakly funny debut feature by the uncompromising and very talented Tim McCann... Outstanding." '' Paper'' magazine's Dennis Dermody characterized ''Desolation Angels'' as "harrowing and though provoking" and wrote, "The movie is so on target about all the macho bullshit that it makes you think Valerie Solanas was right."

References

External links

* * 1995 films American thriller films 1995 independent films American independent films 1990s thriller films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films {{1990s-thriller-film-stub