Audience Member
"Death and the Compass" is a stand out Borge's story, so any adaptation has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, Alex Cox lacks the budget and the leading man. Naturally, Peter Boyle is a wonderful actor; however, here he feels miscast and a bit bored by the material. Nevertheless, for fans of Borges and Cox, "Death and the Compass" is an interesting failure.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/14/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Most people will, and do, hate it, but I seem to love everything Alex Cox touches. Bizarre, confusing and twisted, with a subtle touch of dark humor and excellent visuals.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
Full Review
walter m
Despite its florid visuals and a game cast, "Death and the Compass" is nothing more than an empty exercise about the nature of power as triangulated between a bureaucrat, detective and a criminal. The central question is who really has the most power? The responsible one? The worker? Or the one who subverts the system in the shadows?
Written and directed by Alex Cox, "Death and the Compass" is told from the viewpoint of Treviranus(Miguel Sandoval), the former commissioner of detectives. What he is so bitter about is the positive attention one of his detectives, Erik Lonnrot(Peter Boyle, with a rare chance to stretch his legs in the lead), got in his time. As Treviranus puts it, wasn't he the one who solved the crimes while Lonnrot went off on his wild goose chases, ignoring boring street crimes in the bargain? Take the case of a murder which Treviranus thinks is only the fallout from a routine diamond smuggling ring gone wrong while Lonnrot suspects something much more sinister, getting research assistance from Alonso Zunz(Christopher Eccleston), a young journalist.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
As a fan of Jorge Luis Borges, I was interested in seeing this film set in a totalitarian future about a private detective who discovers a bizarre pattern in a series of recent serial murders. Alex Cox uses heavy symbolism and expanded a 55-minute television production, which is fairly evident, as several long stretches of the movie are devoted to showy and distracting camera angles, moody smoke-lit settings and several vague discussions about the nature of man and how fate binds our actions and blah blah blah...
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Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
An inspector turns to mysticism and the kaballah to solve a series of what he believes to be ritualistic murders, in a wierd industrial society filled with supervillains and an enormous police force. A surreal, cartoonesk film noir, with some great ideas, but the shoddy execution and low quality of some of the sets and sounds left me wanting more. Christopher Eccleston (the previous Doctor Who) is great as a Joker-like menace.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
allthough it offers some stunning visual treats. death and the compas has a bareley desciferable narative that confuses and more often than not fustrates the audience. this is not too say that its a bad film, as i mentiond it has supeperb visuals, a retro style and look, and some brilliant acting from peter boyle and (im suprised im saying this) christopher ecclesten. its edited weirdly with jump cuts and removed frames, i dont no if these add anything too the narative or if they are there for any reason, but they can become highly annoying. its scripted in an almost shakesperian way, unfortunetly this self induldgences just causes another confusion issue. the only way too fully understand "death and the compas" is too of been inside Alex cox's brain when he made it. like the work of david lynch he dosent try and dumb things down for his viewer. though sadley in this case it seem's cox's story telling has become far too pretentius too comprehend, it will be an intresting watch either way. if you are a fan of cox's early work such as "repo man" and "sid and nancy" you may be disapointed. allthough he carrys over the directing style from his other features it leaves every other convention behind. if your a fan of strange cinema give it a watch, you may see more in it than i did.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
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