Anthony Minghella, Director: 1954 - 2008
By Craig Kennedy - March 18th, 2008; 8:01 am
Anthony Minghella died suddenly Tuesday morning of a brain hemorrhage while convalescing at a hospital following a neck operation. The Oscar winning director of The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley was 54 years old.
Source: Variety
Filed under: News, Obituaries
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An incalcuable loss to the aristic community, Minghella’s young and untimely passing deprives the world of his considerable contributions to many fields, the latest being as artistic director of the current Metropolitan Opera production of Puccini’s MADAMA BUTTERFLY, which I was fortunate to see back in October in NYC. His minimalist staging, which accentuated colorful lighting, ravishing costumes and eye-popping art direction, gave opera fans the most sensory of all BUTTERFLYs.
Of course many of us won’t forget THE ENGLISH PATIENT, MR. RIPLEY or COLD MOUNTAIN (and others) all of which were fine films, but someone I am am saddened that his best was yet to come.
More importantly than all of this was that his sudden passing deprives his family and close friends of his companionship. Another tragic loss.
Sad news. I wonder who will take over the BFI with his passing?
How sad and unexpected. He had so much talent.
I know it gets lambasted a lot, but The English Patient is a favorite of mine. I had all those criticisms of it–slow, lumbering, self-important, overt Oscar bait, etc.–the first time I saw it. Then a few days later I found myself wanting to see it again, and it was a completely different experience. I ended up seeing it six times in the theater, and it got better each time.
I have mixed feelings about much of his other work, but the man had undeniable talent. I was interested to see what would come next. Sad news.
Wow.
Very sad, very unexpected.
I never quite took to his films the way I wish I could have (I’m always wanting to end up loving a film and if I don’t it usually hurts a bit not to), but he certainly seemed to have a unique vision and it’s a shame to see him depart at such an unreasonably young age.
RIP.
I haven’t seen Play and Mr. Wonderful, but I was a fan to various degrees of all his other films. I particularly admired The English Patient, Cold Mountain, and Truly, Madly, Deeply. And Ripley and Breaking and Entering had many fine qualities even though they didn’t quite work for me as wholes.
It is always sad to see someone pass prematurely. He still had many creatively rich years head of him. His work displayed a level of intellectual and emotional maturity I greatly valued. I personally find the “oscar bait” dismissal directed to some of his and other people’s films lazy analysis.
So unexpected and sad. I adored the film Truly, Madly, Deeply, and I admired The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley. He did have great creative vision. What a tragic loss.
Rest in peace, Mr. Minghella.
EP was released during my stretch of “Oscar Sucks” snobbery so I’ve always avoided it. I aim to see it one of these days.
I always really liked Ripley though. Underappreciated in my book and it was the first time I thought “hey, this Damon guy really can act.”
Plus it made me want to be rich, lazy and living on the coast of Italy.
It’s always shocking and sad when a name you know dies at a young age.
RIP Mr. Minghella
I’m sure most of us have been through that phase, Craig. You are in for treat — EP is one of my all-time favorites. Sumptuous and poetic. I’ll be forever grateful to Minghella, Fiennes, and Binoche for their work on EP.
I’m a fan of “Ripley.” I had that same “aha!” moment regarding Damon’s acting skills when I saw it. And Blanchett’s turn was remarkable.
Minghella was a rarirty in that he could make spectacularly beautiful looking films, extract powerhouse performances from his actors, and write lyrical screenplays that provided a solid foundation for everyone involved.
RIP, Mr. Minghella.
I’ve maligned English Patient’s Oscar win here before, but I didn’t think it was a bad movie. I just really didn’t care for the way that Miramax marketed it into an Oscar winner. That was disappointing, part of the low point for the Academy Awards (for me) where the marketing and general hype surrounding a movie carried more weight with voters than the films themselves, in both nominations and awards winners.
While Minghela isn’t a bad director and the movie isn’t bad, the way it won (amongst a number of other BPs in the 80’s and 90’s) left me incredibly cynical and bitter about the awards themselves.
Cold Mountain didn’t grab me but I did enjoy Talented Mr Ripley and I’ve always meant to see Truly, Madly, Deeply but have never gotten to it. Maybe I will now.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is my favorite of his films, which I think is a fairly common position these days. Definitely Matt Damon’s best, and the ensemble of Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Philip Seymour Hoffman among others was quite strong. Excellent screenplay, involving performances, and precisely detailed cinematography. I haven’t seen the other version(s) of that, though I plan to eventually.
This is the one that hit me HARD today. But you can’t ever know what the future holds for anyone, can you?
He was a huge favourite of mine. Some of the filmmakers I admire most have all ready been gone for some time (David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder). I think I connected with Anthony’s work more than any other contemporary director currently working. Except, of course, for Woody Allen.
I own TEP, TTMR and CM. I adore them largely because they’re throwbacks to another era: the glamour, the gorgeous people and the exquisite beauty that surrounds them. They’re hot and deeply sensual but they’re also dark and tragic. The production values on these films are top of the line. I don’t think that there’s anyone who ever represented period better. He did it in such a lush, lovely fashion. He had the same grasp of the sweeping epic that Lean did, which is exceedingly rare.
This is utterly devastating. It’s a tragedy that he went so young.
I can’t believe he’s gone and that he’ll never make another film…
Talented Mr. Ripley is my favorite too, the best synthesis of classy and creepy in his body of work. He’ll be missed.
His death cuts deep; I really enjoyed CM, Mr. Ripley and English Patient too. I kind of liked Breaking and Entering to a certain point too. I cannot deny that Anthony was a very talented man with a unique vision; it feels very sad now that he is gone.
How depressing. I discovered Netflix doesn’t have Truly, Madly, Deeply in their catalogue and after some more checking discovered the movie has been out-of-print for a few years now.
It was an MGM film, I believe, and Warner Bros owns that catalogue now, correct? GET WITH IT, PEOPLE.
You guys have just about said anything that I can think to say but Minghella’s passing is very unfortunate. Don’t underestimate English Patient because it keeps dubious company as a 1990s Best Picture winner, it’s literate, engrossing and visually amazing, most importantly, its passionate and ALIVE. I haven’t seen it in some time and forget many of the specifics, but I will never forget the image of Juliette Binoche swinging in the air, and falling in love herself.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is even better, a sensual thriller that carries the sort of ambigious rot that was more common in the 1970s, but, again like Patient, its an unusually human thriller, with Jude Law and Matt Damon’s best performances.
I guess I no longer have any excuse to keep avoiding EP. I’ve been working up to it for a while, but the time is now.
So, what will you see first, Craig? EP or AtU?
Joel, you can buy it cheaply at outlets like this ->
http://800-buy-movies.com/generalDVD/204756D1_Truly_Madly_Deeply_dvd.htm
Craig, TEP is a bona fide classic. Some have called it slow, plodding and boring. Frankly, I don’t comprehend that point of view. I have a very short attention span (similar to a cat’s, actually) and I saw this many, many times in the theatre. It’s interesting how what you see as a teenager can have an astounding effect on you FOR LIFE.
To me, TEP was IT. I had seen a lot of cinematic masterpieces from decades past at that particular point. But to view any contemporary theatrical release that was on that level was an extreme rarity - and TEP delivered on all fronts. Resoundingly.
nancy over at AD had a link to some of the most effective scenes in Anthony’s films. Even though I own the movie on DVD, I haven’t watched it for some time. It’s the plane crash where Ralph takes Kristin to the cave where she waits for him. I had completely forgotten the effect that it had on me. I can easily recall the second time I saw it. Kristin is injured and Ralph is sobbing as he carries her. She’s hurt but she’s still got an attitude. She thought he hated her. But the feelings on both their parts were much too strong to fade.
He was a man of few words but his feelings went deeper than he ever wanted anyone to know. That’s likely why he was so taciturn and kept to himself so much. As he was carrying her, she said, “You speak so many bloody languages and you never want to talk,” and a man in the audience started laughing and he couldn’t stop. He was likely nervous viewing it - or else he saw himself in that particular conversation.
The film is just shimmerlngly gorgeous. If you’re a romantic at all or have any kind of soul, it will get to you in a way that you won’t even be able to comprehend. It’s very much like Atonement. Only, of course, more of a straight love story with all the passion and dark undercurrents that come along with it. It’s the kind of picture that they made routinely back in the day when the old studio system reigned supreme - and hardly ever any more.
If you liked Atonement you will, at the very least, enjoy this.
In my view, TEP and ATU don’t even deserve to coexist in the same sentence. If TEP is the Palace of Versailles, ATU is a crack house.
Yes indeed Miranda. I loved ATONEMENT and I love THE ENGLISH PATIENT, so your theory works with me.
Wow, a crack house! And it was one of your favorite crack houses of 2007!
Interesting. Well this weekend is shaping up to be a good DVD weekend so perhaps I’ll catch TEP finally. I’m trying to keep my expectations modest however.
Craig, you’re a very amusing boy.
I know, Sam. I adore them both.
When I catch EP Miranda, you’ll be among the first to hear about it.
Promise?
Thanks sartre, but I prefer the studio releases to black market or foreign region zero releases. Sometimes you get lucky with a good port of a foreign region-centric DVD, but usually these are Laserdisc ports or (shudder) VCD. Sometimes they don’t even have subtitles. Heck, sometimes they’re the 4:3 VHS version converted to cheap DVD.
But you’re right…for those of us who REALLY want to see it, it’s available.
Back in NZ I generally avoided Region 1 DVDs because they had lower resolution than the PAL coded Region 4 and 2. But it always paid to read reviews to determine the quality of transfer and aspect ratio, though with Region 4 and 2 the default aspect ratio is widescreen (letterboxed or anamorphic). The advantages of Region 1 were the extras they were able to cram in due to less storage requirements for the lower resolution visuals, and the greater number of titles available
Miranda. But of course.