Borges Film – Death and the Compass
- At September 28, 2018
- By Great Quail
- In Borges
0
Death and the Compass
La muerta y la brújula
TV: 1993, Spain & U.K., 55 min.
RTVE: DVD | Films for Humanity Stream
Feature Film: 1996, Spain, U.K., & Japan, 86 min.
Anchor Bay: DVD | Amazon Prime
Crew
Directed by Alex Cox.
Produced by Katsumi Ishikuma and Lorenzo O’Brien.
Screenplay by Alex Cox after a story by Jorge Luis Borges.
Cinematography by Miguel Gárzon.
Music by Pray for Rain.
Cast
Peter Boyle – Erik Lönnrot
Miguel Sandoval – Treviranus
Christopher Eccleston – Alonso Zunz/Red Scharlach
Zaide Silvia Gutierrez – Ms. Espinoza
Pedro Armendariz, Jr. – Blot
Alonso Echanove – Novalis
Eduardo Lopez Rojas – Black Finnegan
Ariannne Pellicer – Natasha
Gabriela Gurrola – Hooker/Harlequin
Rene Pereyra – Azevedo
Mario Ivan Martinez – Hotel Manager
Roberto Sosa – Drug Addict 1
Bruno Bichir – Drug Addict 2
Abel Woolrich – Barman
Martin LaSalle – Dr. Yarmolinsky
Luis de Icaza – Bigot
Claudio Brook – Narrator
Karl Braun – Sergeant/Green Scharlach
Alex Cox – Commander Borges
Synopsis
Set in Mexico City, Death and the Compass follows a philosophical detective named Lönnrot and his arch-nemesis, a criminal mastermind named Red Scharlach. Investigating the murder of a Talmudic scholar, Lönnrot follows a sequence of metaphysical clues which plunge him into the esoteric world of Jewish mysticism. Is he on the trail of something big, or is he being lured into a fiendish trap?
Comments
In 1993, Televisión Española (RTVE) aired a limited series called Los cuentos de Borges, or “Borges Tales.” Consisting of six hour-long episodes, each was an adaptation of a Borges story helmed by a different director. The final of these episodes was “Death and the Compass,” jointly produced by the BBC and filmed in English by Alexander Cox, the independent filmmaker best known for Sid and Nancy and Repo Man.
Cox believed he could expand the 55-minute episode into a feature film, and he secured $100,000 from Japanese investors. Quickly going over budget, Cox filmed The Winner in 1996, using those earnings to complete Death and the Compass. According to the Internet Movie Database:
The newer footage consists mainly of extended monologues to camera by an older, embittered version of the character of Treviranus, and a flashback sequence showing the robbery of the Used Money Depository by Red Scharlach’s gang. Of the lead actors, only Miguel Sandoval was available to reprise his original role, so his screen time is greatly extended in the feature-length version. The character of Red Scharlach is included in the robbery scene, but remains masked and silent so that the actor in question did not have to appear.
I’m not a big fan of Alex Cox in general, and I think Death and the Compass lacks the wit of Borges’ original story. One day I may get an original review online here, but until then I offer the words of Cathy Thompson-Georges, writing for Box-Office magazine:
You’ve got to admire the audacity of Death and the Compass. The work of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges is all but unfilmable, but Alex Cox has tackled one of his stories anyway. The result is stylish, sometimes overly so, frustrating and intriguing. It might not be totally successful, but this Together Brothers production leaves viewers with plenty to think about. A typically Borgesian tale of conspiracy, the Kabbala, and an oddly philosophical detective, the film involves a series of murders that might (or might not) be motivated by the occult. Unflappable detective Lönnrot (Peter Boyle) encounters arch-criminal Red Scharlach (Christopher Eccleston) and untrustworthy subordinate Treviranus (Miguel Sandoval) on a journey through a surreal, stylized landscape that has much to suggest a dreamtime version of Borges’ native Argentina. Filmed in harsh, saturated colors and almost cartoonish in its presentation, Death and the Compass is a jarring film experience, but an intelligent, intriguing one as well.
Additional Information
Additional InformationDeath and the Compass
You can watch the entire film on YouTube.
Los cuentos de Borges [DVD]
Copies of the Cuentos DVD box set are available from Amazon.com. They are coded for regions 1–6, and do not include English subtitles.
Films for Humanity
The Films for the Humanities page on Death and the Compass features a preview and “chapter-based” synopsis.
Wikipedia Page
Wikipedia hosts a page on Death and the Compass.
IMDB Page
The Internet Movie Database features a profile of Death and the Compass.
Rotten Tomatoes
The scores on this aggregate site are…not so good.
Alex Cox Profile
This profile from “Senses of Cinema” offers some interesting history about Cox’s Death and the Compass.
Alex Cox Q&A
Alex Cox answers question after a 2011 screening of the film. On Vimeo.
Dan Wool Interview
20 August 2023. AlexCox.com interviews Dan Wool of Pray for Rain, the band that composed the soundtrack to Death and the Compass.
Reviews
Variety Review
21 October 1996. Variety dismisses Cox’s film as “wretched.”
LA Times Review
11 July 1997. Kevin Thomas praises Cox’s visionary style, but declares the film a flop.
Los cuentos de Borges: Episodes
Los cuentos de Borges
Back to the main page for Los cuentos de Borges.
El sur
Directed by Carlos Saura, this is a loose adaptation of Borges’ autobiographical story “The South.”
La otra historia de Rosendo Juárez
Directed by Gerardo Vera and starring Antonio Banderas, this is an alternate version of Borges’ story, “Rosendo’s Tale.”
Emma Zunz
Directed by Benoît Jacquot, Emma Zunz is a joint production with France’s Cinétévé.
La intrusa
Directed by Jaime Chávarri, this is an adaptation of “The Intruder.”
El evangelio según Marcos
Directed by Héctor Olivera, this is an adaptation of “The Gospel According to Mark.”
Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 27 August 2024
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