The Reel Review
Noomi Rapace stars in this Australian mystery/thriller on Hulu and Amazon, about a depressed mother who becomes convinced that one of her son’s schoolmates is actually her daughter who died as an infant in a tragic hospital fire. The film, from director Kim Farrant (Strangerland) is a remake of the 2008 mystery, Mark of an Angel.
Rapace (Prometheus, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) injects just enough crazy eyes and stomach-churning, “Oh God, please no, don’t do THAT” moments in her performance to keep this goofy hybrid of Fatal Attraction and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle at least entertaining. Rapace’s emotionally-unraveled mommy is the perfect counter to the ultra-cool mom played by Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale), who grows increasing terrified of the woman obsessed with her sweet little girl. Watching their increasingly tense interaction is uncomfortably fun.
Their fine performances however, are diminished by a story that is missing some important plot elements (we don’t learn about the infant daughter’s fiery death until the halfway mark) and includes some uncharacteristically strange ones – in particular, the oddly calm reactions by Strahovski’s character over the stalking of her daughter. And if all of that isn’t enough to make you go hmmmm, there is a completely fast-forwarded, bonkers climax that will leave you feeling a little cheated.
REEL FACTS
• Angel of Mine was filmed in Melbourne, Australia
• Noomi Rapace was born in Sweden to Swedish actress Nina Norén and Spanish Flamenco singer Rogelio Durán. Yvonne Strahovski, the daughter of Polish immigrants, was born in Australia.
• Both Luke Evans and Richard Roxburgh have played the part of Dracula, Evans in 2014’s Dracula Untold and Roxburgh in 2004’s Van Helsing.
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