Published: May 29, 2008 11:24 am            

Mr. Movie: Anthony Minghella

Anthony Minghella was only 54 when he died. The British-born director specialized in bringing especially difficult stories to the silver screen. He was rewarded for his efforts by the Academy in 1996 with a Best Director Oscar for the superb The English Patient. Michael Ondaatje's novel about a terribly injured English fighter pilot and his slow recovery in an Italian villa is a tremendously good read and a tremendously tough book from which to make a movie. But Mr. Minghella pulls it off with aplomb, using flashbacks and interior dialogue with effective skill. Ralph Fiennes as the pilot and Juliet Binoche as his nurse head a fine cast. This film won Best Movie and eight other Oscars and deserved them all.

Ten years later Mr. Minghella directed Breaking and Entering with Jude Law as a budding architect and Ms. Binoche as an Eastern European immigrant. Their slowly developing romance is the keynote of a film that is not easy but original and constantly entertaining.

Cold Mountain (2003) is Charles Frazier's masterpiece about a Civil War deserter, his trek to be reunited with his true love, and the various adventures of each of the lovers. This North Carolina story was shot in Bulgaria (!) with a British actor (Jude Law) as the male lead and an Australian actress (Nicole Kidman) as the female lead. And yet it works. Renee Zellwegger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are outstanding in the supporting cast.

Truly, Madly, Deeply (1993) features Alan Rickman as the dead musician lover of Juliet Stevenson. To Ms. Stevenson's (and our) great surprise, Mr. Rickman turns up in her apartment as a very visible and disgruntled ghost. A quirky, odd little film that actually works better than it has any right to.

At his death, Mr. Minghella had completed filming Alexander McCall Smith's enchanting First Ladies' Detective Agency. These wonderful stories feature Precious Ramatswe, a clever Botswanan lady who runs the agency. Her methods are unusual, but her results are outstanding. At this writing I am not sure whether this is a made-for-TV or regular movie. In any event, I hope we get to see it! Mr. Minghella also had four other works in progress, but I haven't been able to find out what will happen to them.

All of the movies in this column are available on video and DVD. All are for grown-ups.



Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.

        

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