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Nobody's Children is a fascinating piece of work, an operatic tale anticipating the Euro art-film that expertly tones up and down its doses of melodrama. The style is so patient and observant, but can erupt into frenetic bursts when called for, and the narrative itself moves with an impressive agility while the emotional states carry varying levels of change to measure the tragedy of time's toll on the principals in different ways - a drastic change towards happiness can read just as appalling as a more static despairing mood. I adored this beautiful, devastating, exhilarating, fierce yet restrained drama of life's consequences formed around competing wills and power. There's a universal impotence to achieve one's goal that doesn't discriminate against characters, born from the lack of power each possesses to act against human systems they don't understand. I found that detail to be inviting and relatable, as well as the moments of coincidence or providence that indicate heightened examples of life's chaotic mystery

The White Angel definitely dials up the score, emulating its similarly extraordinary melodrama, which has more thriller vibes baked into its overarching heart-wrenching tone. I probably found the first film more effective beat for beat, but this forms a more cohesive if twisty work and I admired how many fun setpieces (boat, prison break) were built into the adventurous framework.