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Redundant and unnecessary.

Crappy film

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

In his Death and Compass Jorge Luis Borges mocked Arthur Conan Doyle's brainchild Sherlock Holmes with his pure deduction and in his film Alex Cox goes still farther – he stretches the story to its logical limit turning it into an acerbic black comedy. The scene is some dystopian megalopolis consisting of back alleys and human warrens. And he crams it with Borges' symbols and signs: infinite mazes and deceitful mirrors, he even puts there Borges' hypothetical locus mundi – the mystical aleph. This brilliant movie is rather hard to get into and appreciate fully so it suits best only those who are both Jorge Luis Borges and Alex Cox connoisseurs.

In a post world war world, people eek out what living they can. A string of strange murders begin to occur and the local Detective Chief Inspector Lonrot(Peter Boyle) is on the job. He believes the murders are being committed by a gangster called Red Scarlach(Christopher Eccleston). Lonrot uses everything to hand to capture the killer and eventually comes face to face with him.I love Peter Boyle. I've seen him in the X-Files to "While You Were Sleeping", but if anyone was miscast in this role, it was him. "Death and the Compass" is a low budget film that uses spontaneity as it's guide. Director Alex Cox is a "fly by the seats of his pants" director. Thirty to forty years ago, Mr.Boyle may have been cast properly, but watching it I couldn't help but wonder if he was treading water because he wasn't sure where his footing was.Though Mr.Boyle seemed to be treading water, I didn't feel that about the other members of the cast. Maybe it was because the others of the cast were familiar with Cox's type of direction. What ever it was, it gave the movie a "driving on ice" feel. It'll be fine, then the brakes will lock and the car will slide to the side.Don't get me wrong. It wasn't a bad movie. It just needs to be done over.

This wilfully bizarre adaptation of Borges short story is typical Cox. His strong visual sense is, as usual, undone by the appalling half baked acting of most of the cast. The film is definitely in the surreal tradition of Bunuel's Mexican period, and looks at times like a poor man's take on Lars Von Trier's Elements of Crime. Cox's apparent preference for single takes, jump cuts, and ambient sound recording all work against the film's effectiveness. Worth a look but ultimately disappointing.

As I write this only a few other people have ever voted for DEATH AND THE COMPASS, so I must assume that only a relatively tiny proportion of film-lovers have had the opportunity to watch this movie. Which is a shame, because it's an extremely good film. I actually only saw it myself by accident, as it were, at the London Film Festival three or four years ago after Alex Cox had entered it as a replacement for THE WINNER, which he had withdrawn, feeling it had been ruined by studio interference. And DEATH AND THE COMPASS is up there with his best work, at times surreal, but always clever and involving, and full of memorable sounds (that voice-over at the beginning!) and images (and what about those police cars!). Cox always casts great actors, and having Peter Boyle and Christopher Eccleston on board ensures the twisting story-line is enthralling right up to its quite stunning finale. Even if it gets the recognition it should, I don't think this will ever be prime time viewing material, but if quality counts for anything perhaps it should.