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Death and The Compass 15 rating

Alex Cox’s visually stunning, deliciously dark adaptation of the short story by acclaimed Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.

1996 86 mins

Director: Alex Cox

Overview

Death and the Compass, one of Alex Cox’s most ambitious, inspired and visually stunning films, is a deliciously dark adaptation of the short story by acclaimed Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. In a totalitarian metropolis of the future (shot on location in Mexico City), Erik Lonnrot (Peter Boyle) is a gifted detective investigating a series of strange murders and disappearances that seem to implicate the insane crime lord Red Scarlach.

Enlisting the help of Alonso Zunz (Christopher Eccleston), a principled journalist, Lonnrot believes that he has uncovered a labyrinthine occult conspiracy. However, has the investigator’s brilliance merely precipitated his own destruction? In a nightmare city inhabited only by criminals and police, a mystic detective finds a tool to catch a villainous outlaw. Augmented by a non-linear narrative style, Miguel Sandoval’s unhinged and digressive narration, by mystical and religious overtones and a keen visual sensibility, Death and the Compass is a distinctly unique experience.