Reviews for Angel's Oracle

The average rating for Angel's Oracle based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-02-04 00:00:00 Robert Price These aren't stories of horror. These aren't stories of terror. These are stories of the uncanny. Which means I'm glad I finished the book, so I can start sleeping at night again. This fine collection of eerie tales is just perfect for tilting your world off-kilter. Are the protagonists really enduring these frights or are they suffering from their own mental illnesses? Can we prevent that which we believe is about to happen? Or all we all lost? Loved every story, some of which are shorter than others. William Trevor is not on my bookshelves, but that will now change. His story about Mrs. Acland and the man she writes to (while she's residing in an asylum) kept my attention all the way through. Robert Aickman's, The Inner Room, had me in a cold sweat, and Joyce Carol Oates, M.R. James, Ray Bradbury, Robert Graves, Edith Wharton, and Truman Capote also feature here. But there was one story which kept me riveted. As a child, my first experience with Father Christmas came during a balmy day in Melbourne, when I found myself suddenly plopped onto the lap of a fat man in red who scared the bejesus out of me. Until then, I only knew of Sint Niklaas, who was thin and normal. My parents took a picture of me wailing at the top of my lungs, tears streaming down my face, as I tried to run away from the scary red man. In this book is a tale called, The Chimney, by Ramsey Campbell. It brought back memories of a Father Christmas who, perhaps, is not quite the jolly figure we are supposed to love. This is a David R. Godine publication, which means it is well laid-out, nicely edited, and with the usual explanation of type used (Van Dijck). But, oh, that chimney. Book Season = Autumn (but I was too scared to wait)

Review # 2 was written on 2011-02-12 00:00:00 Clay Morganparks ''Father Sergius,'' the 1978 Russian film that opens today at the Film Forum, is like its title character -sorrowfully handsome, passionate and unworldly. It's Leo Tolstoy's posthumously published novella, adapted and directed by Igor Talankin, about a fearfully self-righteous aristocrat, Prince Stepan Kasatsky (Sergei Bondarchuk), and his lifelong search for spiritual perfection. As a young officer in the service of Czar Nicholas I, the prince is as demanding of others as he is of himself. He places honor above all and, as he says, worships the Czar as a god. On the eve of his marriage to a beautiful, equally young countess, whom he idealizes as an earthly representation of purity, she confesses that she was once the mistress of the Czar. Other ambitious officers might accept this as a kind of blessing, an unexpected advantage at court. Kasatsky, instead, is horrified. He abandons his fiancee, his estate and the worldly life to enter the church. Most of the film is concerned with the efforts of the prince, now Father Sergius, to understand the roots of his behavior, which, he eventually sees, was prompted by anger instead of faith. Still, he has the need to be the best at whatever he does. Over the years, Father Sergius becomes famous as a holy man, a hermit who lives the ascetic life and, at the door of his cave, dispenses wisdom to pilgrims - to the church's satisfaction and financial profit. He finally realizes that this life, too, is as false as the one he gave up as a young man. The Tolstoy text is translated to the screen with almost paragraph-by-paragraph fidelity, which gives the film a curious, uncinematic stateliness. The pacing is deliberate, more at the speed one reads than the way one expects to follow things on the screen. Mr. Bondarchuk is majestic rather than moving, but this is probably inevitable because the furies that are attacking Father Sergius are, with two exceptions, unseen. Only toward the end does Mr. Bondarchuk, one of the most popular Russian directors (''War and Peace'') as well as actors, have an opportunity to dramatize the character in a way the screen understands. Among the members of the supporting cast, the standout is Alla Demidova, who plays the small but important role of Father Sergius's aristocratic, once beautiful cousin, whose life becomes a sort of object lesson for the former prince. ''Father Sergius'' is a film that's entirely at the service of written literature. *The Cast FATHER SERGIUS, directed by Igor Talankin; screenplay (Russian, with English subtitles) by Igor Talankin, based on a novel by Tolstoy; photography, Georgi Rerberg and Anatoly Nikolayev; music by Alfred Shnitke; produced by the Mosfilm Studio. At the Film Forum 2, 57 Watts Street. Running time: 99 minutes. This film is not rated. Prince Stepan Kasatsky-Father Sergius . . . . . Sergei Bondarchuk Countess Mary . . . . . Valentina Titova Emperor Nicholas 1 . . . . . Vladislav Strzhelchik Seductress . . . . . Ludmila Maksakova Pashenka . . . . . Alla Demidova Lady at Court Ball . . . . . Irina Skobtseva