Angel
1966 · 6m · Canada
Directed by Derek May
Genres: experimental, fantasy, musical
Tones: contemplative, surreal, whimsical
A young man, a girl, and a dog attempt flight with symbolic wings. Leonard Cohen songs accompany the impractical ascent.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Cohen's poetry + literal flight = the kind of sincere whimsy that usually makes me recoil, except May actually commits to the bit without winking, which is either brilliant or delusional—I genuinely can't tell, and that's the only reason I'm not dismissing it.
A formally considered marriage of experimental cinema and song-cycle tradition; the symbolic wings and impractical ascent situate themselves squarely in mid-century poetic film lineage, where craft serves metaphor rather than spectacle.
The decision to let Cohen's voice—not underscore, but *voice*—carry the emotional weight while the image stays deliberately awkward and grounded is what makes this work; a six-minute film about flight that understands restraint.