Death And The Compass DVD

An adaptation of the José Luis Borges short story, Death and the Compass is a baroque murder mystery with a comic touch. Plagued by his involvement in a prior investigation, weary and embittered Police Commissioner Treviranus (played by Cox regular Miguel Sandoval, Straight to Hell, Three Businessmen) attempts to set a peculiar history straight. When his star detective Lonnrot (Peter Boyle), an intuitive, blue-suited Buddhist, is stumped as to the motive behind a series of unsolved psycho-geographical murders with Kabbalistic overtones, Treviranus suspects master criminal... Scharlach (Christopher Eccleston), at large in the city. But Lonnrot rejects this thesis and, with the aide of enthusiastic, atheist journalist, Zunz (Chistopher Eccleston), he is lead to believe that the crimes are allied to points on the compass. Drawn fatefully to where he believes a final crime will be committed, Lonnrot and Zunz search for the solution within a mysterious deserted mansion to the South of the city. Shot with a comic book sensibility (like a 1930s movie serial) on richly coloured modernist sets with futurist flourishes, Cox's film looks sumptuous and follows the style of Borges' labryinthine scenario to the letter without losing the plot. The three leads all acquit themselves admirably. Boyle's mystical detective is awkward and aloof in contrast to Sandoval's cunning, career-minded police inspector, while Ecceleston shape-shifts between three roles with alarming ease. On the DVD: An audio commentary by Alex Cox and composer Dan Wool of Pray for Rain (who also scored Cox's Straight to Hell and Three Businessmen) primarily examines the relationship between sound and setting. Paul Miller's "Spiderweb", the featurette advertised on the sleeve and liner notes, does not appear on this disc. --Chris Campion [show more]

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