LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Anthony Minghella
built 615 days ago
Anthony Minghella's Madam Butterfly is a thing of petrified beauty. Rejecting the fad for an anti-Imperialist subtext, his first thesis is that Cio-Cio-San (Mary Plazas) is a victim of the exquisite rituals of Japanese culture. His second is that Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (Gwyn Hughes Jones) is a sex tourist de ses jours.
Source:
Anthony Minghella has studied dramatic literature and history of fine art in England while he began writing plays and composing music for the stage. After beginning to write screenplays, he soon started his directing career 1991 with Truly Madly Deeply. Five years later he shot The English Patient which won eight Oscars, including Best Directing for himself. Anthony Minghella’s new film Cold Mountain is part of the Official Competition at this year‘s Berlin International Film Fest.
Source:
The Anthony Minghella production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly has 13performances through November18. James Levine and Asher Fisch share conducting duties, and the cast is led by Cristina Gallardo-Domâs in the title role, Maria Zifchak as Suzuki, Marcello Giordani as Pinkerton, and Dwayne Croft as Sharpless.
Source:
ANTHONY MINGHELLA Anthony Minghella's parents emigrated from Italy to England's Isle of Wight before he was born, and started a highly successful premium ice cream company. Although Anthony helped out with the business when he was young, his dream was to become a writer. He majored in English and drama at the University of Hull, where he met his wife, choreographer Carolyn Choa. After graduation, he worked as a drama professor while establishing himself as a playwright. In 1981, his play, Whale Music, was a huge success and he found himself in demand with television and radio offers coming his way.
Source:
Anthony Minghella seems to have cornered the market in slow, overlong period flicks - with The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and now Cold Mountain providing ample evidence of this. Despite some admittedly impressive visuals (thanks to cinematographer John Seale), Cold Mountain never quite manages to engage the viewer - primarily due to an abundance of characters and a few too many pointless subplots. The story, set during the American Civil War, follows a soldier named Inman (Jude Law) as he attempts to return home to his sweetheart, Ada (Nicole Kidman). It's a decent setup that is diluted and eventually destroyed by Minghella's refusal to remain focused on the two characters; this is exemplified by the presence of Ray Winstone's Teague and his ridiculously evil posse, who appear to have been included for the sole purpose of forcing Inman into a showdown at the film's close. Law is very good in the central role, while the continuous cavalcade of stars eventually becomes distracting - though Natalie Portman briefly injects some life into the film with her turn as a single mom. As for Oscar winner Renée Zellweger, the actress seems to be channeling Yosemite Sam here - a bizarre choice that is kind of entertaining, but ultimately jarring and out-of-place.
Source:
Anthony Minghella was born in 1954 on the Isle of Wight. He studied at the University of Hull, and lectured in drama there up to 1981, when he started to writefor BBC Television during the 1980s, including episodes of Boon and Grange Hill. Other television work included three episodes of Inspector Morse and in the late 1980s he wrote The Storyteller series (published as Jim Henson's 'The Storyteller' in 1988)and Living with Dinosaurs.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Anthony Minghella