Anthony Minghella (1954 - 2008)

Image from wikipedia.org
I suppose like anyone interested in film, I was really shocked to hear of the death of Anthony Minghella today. An intelligent director and accomplished writer, he was an interesting, and admirable force in mainstream cinema. I saw him interviewed in Dublin several times, once, I believe, at a Film Festival screening of 'The English Patient', another time for 'Mr. Wonderful' (I think he was over again for a Beckett adaptation). He had a lot of experience and could communicate it lucidly, but as seems clear from the eulogies currently being made, he seemed to be a genuinely nice man (he even seemed to like the Weinsteins). On Channel 4 just now, I saw a visibly shaken Alan Parker discussing Minghella's work and the upshot was that here was a relatively young filmmaker (54) with his best work still ahead of him. His work until now though, seven films, were all worthy of viewing, and at least in the case of 'The English Patient' exemplary. It was a fine adaptation of a fine novel, invested with a Lean-like eye for beauty, something until that point, I wouldn't have expected from the writerly Minghella. Far from being unique, this painterly eye was evident in all his subsequent work. A writer with an artist's eye, judging from the use of the Goldberg Variations in 'The English Patient', he also knew how to use music. A loss then, a sad loss.