Anthony Minghella R.I.P.

[poliphilo]

Anthony Minghella died.

Suddenly, unexpectedly.

When an artist dies in his or her prime it really does change the world. Expectations are cancelled. We thought we were going to see many more movies with his name on them- and now we're not.

The frame catches in the gate, shudders and burns.

I liked Truly, Madly, Deeply best. They called it the British Ghost, but it's much, much better- sweeter, more intelligent, closer to the truth.

His last film- a TV adaption of The No 1. Ladies Detective Agency- gets its premiere this coming Sunday.

Comments

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

The great moment in Truly Madly Deeply is when the offscreen therapist asks how long it has been since Jamie died. We never get an answer. I love that movie, and I even love Rickman's mad mustache. [g]

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't remember that.

I need to see it again....

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Ah, damn. Yes, Truly, Madly, Deeply is a thing of wit and charm and depth rather thoroughly unlike Ghost. I wouldn't even have thought to make the comparison.

[gioiaverdi.livejournal.com]

Well, they did come out about the same time, and they both had dead lovers in them and ... no, that's where the similarity ends.

T,M,D. is one of my all time top five.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Ah, see, I didn't have the nous to catch Truly, Madly, Deeply when it was still in the theaters, but only finally saw it on DVD much later, so I don't even have the time frame to tie the two together. I know which one I would rent again, though.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, they're both about dead lovers who insist on hanging around- and that's about it, really.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Not much of a connection, really. Oh, well, now is maybe a good time to re-watch Truly, Madly, Deeply and check around for any Minghella I missed along the way.

[senordildo.livejournal.com]

When it comes to artists dying in their prime I think Edward Yang's loss was even greater than Minghella's. Thankfully Yang went out on top with Yi Yi.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise Yang had died. That's terrible. Yi Yi is a tremendous film.

[senordildo.livejournal.com]

Yang died from cancer on June 29 of last year. It took me a long time to hear about it too, and the fricking Oscars didn't even include him in their dead people montage, even though he was far more important than Heath Ledger.
Since only one of his films is available on DVD, it's understandable that he's a bit obscure. The San Francisco International Asian Film Festival recently had a Yang tribute, so I was able to see The Terrorizers and A Brighter Summer Day on the big screen. The latter is said to be Yang's best film (It's equal to Yi Yi in my book, and even longer). You can bootleg DVDs of it on sites like superhappyfun.com.

The Guardian ran an interview with him around the time of YiYi which you can find here:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,467824,00.html

Jonathan Rosenbaum was Yang's biggest critical champion in the states, and his review of YiYi is here:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/2001/0103/010302_1.html
He also has an overview of Yang's work here:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/1197/11077.html