No News from God (2001)

This unique story revolves around an angel from Heaven and a fallen angel from Hell who are both sent to Earth to compete over the soul of a boxer.

In great contrast to so many of her Hollywood movie roles, Penelope Cruz is shot in this film as a less than desirable character. In fact, the most enjoyable part of the movie results from the fact that the angel from Hell that Cruz is playing is the condemned should of a former mafia hit-man or thug, so all through the movie she is playing an angel pretending to be a human, but also was only ever a man in real life so she has to pretend to be a woman while fulfilling her angel role on Earth. So Cruz pretending to be a man at heart who is awkwardly trying to pretend to be a woman creates a magnificent off-kilter dark comedy. If for nothing else, the movie is worth viewing just to see Penelope dance around her room (in the style a man would dance) to the original 1970's song "Kung-Fu Fighting".

Fmovies: Amusing film which is in four languages! Do your best to get an original copy, not a dubbed one. The language of hell is English, the language of heaven is French, the angels communicate to each other in Latin, and the language of Earth is Spanish. It's worth it just for that. Good acting, creative story and filming.

I absolutely loved this film, it was really good, with very good humor and great acting. What I hated to see what some other viewer's comment saying how good it is to see Penelope in some other role than just your average sexy woman with no actual personality.. that's pure nonsense. Penelope has always been a good actress - outside Hollywood. Before making that stupid move, she has been in a great many films with extremely good roles. It took Hollywood to come in to make her "just an attractive woman" in all the movies. Take for example movies from Almodovar... there isn't a single one movie where she is just a pretty face. This movie is from before Hollywood - hence the actual acting.

No News from God fmovies. I just saw this movie at the Miami Film Festival and I can't recommend it enough. It has an original premise, great characters portrayed by strong actors, a good script and a refreshingly creative way of telling the story. The story centers on the at times friendly competition between heaven and hell for the soul of a boxer (Demian Bichir)who's really not worth saving. Heaven sends an angel (Victoria Abril) and hell sends a waitress/dark angel (Penélope Cruz) to persuade him. Heaven is portrayed as a black-and-white 1950s Paris and hell looks an awful lot like America but sounds a lot like Britain. One of the most creative aspects of this film is the use of language. When the story is taking place in Heaven, French is spoken. In hell it's English and in the real world it's Spanish. The use of language is much more than aesthetics, it is definitely a commentary. The actors flow from one language to another with grace. Speaking of the actors, Abril is absolutely exciting as she brings natural old-fashioned glamour back to the screen and Cruz is simply brilliant in this film. Other performances by Gael Garcia Bernal as the CEO of hell and Cristina Marcos as a rogue cop are outstanding. Really, see it for yourself...you'll be so happy you did.

This is quite an enjoyable comedy, tough it probably is not for all cultures. The idea of an outdated, black & white French Heaven and an English speaking hell run by Brits with a sick sense of humor and a corrupt Mexican manager with a Swiss passport is brilliant. The use of Latin as the lingua franca between devils and saints is absolutely comic. Even if the screenplay has some loopholes and flaws, the dialogue was hilarious; the acting, in most cases, very good, and it has some unforgettable characters: like the the corrupt woman cop, capable of punching the devil himself.

Entertaining. Unique in style. It's a story about an angel from Heaven and a fallen angel from Hell who both compete over the soul of a boxer.

Penelope's role in this film is more of a far cry than in her previous roles. Normally, she is cast as a beautiful object of desire, as in Vanilla Sky, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, All the Pretty Horses and Woman on Top. She has even been cast as a slightly less-than-attractive, but still desired woman, as in Blow and Gothika. For the first time, Penelope Cruz is actually shot in an almost undesirable way in this film - even letting herself get beat up a couple of times. She does pull it off, and the film succeeds as an off-kilter dark comedy with that Hollywood "Heaven vs. Hell" factor added in.

It is worth it, if for nothing else, to see Penelope dance around her room "Travolta style" to the song "Kung-Fu Fighting".