Anthony and Juliette

It's been almost a month since Anthony Minghella died, and even though I haven't written about him yet, I've been thinking about this amazing man quite a bit. I obviously can't write an elaborate tribute every time someone famous dies; I only do it for the people in the film industry who have touched my life the most profoundly, like Adrienne Shelly and Heath Ledger. Actually, I have two other tributes, much more minor in scale comparatively, dedicated to TV personalities Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly on here. They were special enough to be included on my otherwise all-film blog.

So, in the realm of film, Anthony Minghella is worthy of the type of massive personal eulogy I devoted to Heath Ledger and Adrienne Shelly. His death is a tremendous loss (the more I'm learning about him, the more I see that), and he simply means that much to me. I really want to express my feelings about his death and, more importantly, his life. For his tribute, I decided that I would watch five of his films and write mini-reviews of all of them so that I could commemorate and contextualize his career, emphasize his significance to cinema, and discuss how Minghella and his films have affected me. I have two films left to watch, so it'll still be awhile until I write it. With this post, I just wanted to say that I haven't been neglecting him. I've got big plans for the lovely Mr. Minghella.

In the meantime, I want to share a poem written by the lovely Juliette Binoche for Anthony Minghella after his death. It's beautiful, and I love her for writing it. I'll leave you with her words now:

To Anthony

I shall learn to live without you.

With all we’ve done and undone

with all the missing parts I’ll have to carry on hoping

you were the bedrock of fun, the laugh that made me laugh

and your hand came with love and care

I could see your thoughts going faster and faster

ahead in their curved complex understanding

your excitements became my excitement in the joy of sharing

my friend of art

you’ve gone missing

we shared a heart beating in this inner world of creation

and your ideas became real to me

I was your angel and you opened my wings

and you were the words I could fly into

my friend of heart

I will carry the unsaid

I will cherish my forgiveness until I see you

and please forgive me for my painful silence

magnetic eyes of yours with its sparkling needles

we dared a gift to the unknown

the search for truth in the battle of being

we attempted a glimpse on the other side

with joy with joy

JB