_The Dust of Time_; Neil Jordan

[septimus_...@q.com]

Theodoros Angelopoulos is not a popular director in more ways
than one. There is little mention of his recent death in a
car accident, even by the premier art house cinema web sites.
He may once have won the Palme d'Or (_Eternity and a Day_)
and the Silver Bear (_Weeping Meadows_), but his last film
_The Dust of Time_ did not even get a U.S. DVD release.

I think _The Dust of Time_ is a far more interesting and far
better film than _Eternity and a Day_. The latter is about
a dying poet, full of references to modern Greek poetry and
20th century history that are exceptionally poorly explained
to the lay audience. It has the usual middlebrow weak-kneed
reverence for poets, succumbing to cliche that they are such
benign, head-in-the-cloud creatures who neglect their family
in favor of their work. (In reality most writers are horrible,
insecure, vain-glorious people.)

_The Dust of Time_ is more democratic in many ways. Its nominal
central character is an American-born filmmaker of Greek descent
(Willem Dafoe), trying to make a film while unearthing his
family history. The film unfolds simultaneously, in Angelopoulos'
dream-like manner, in three different eras: the Stalinist 50s,
the 70s when his jailed mother is released to the U.S., and the
"present day." The real physical and emotion force that link
the three eras is his mother Eleni played by an amazing Irene
Jacob. Bruno Ganz, playing her lover in the Gulags, is amazing
as well. Those used to Angelopoulos' films will not find this
one overly confusing, and can still enjoy the wonderful camera
work; at the same time, it has an endearing sense of humility,
far removed the precious self-importance of _Eternity and a Day_.

Neil Jordan's _Ondine_ is a welcome return to his Irish seaside
tale roots. It recalls his best film _The Miracle_, but could
use some subtitles. The reason I am think ing of him is however
because of his novel _Shade_. I have enjoyed his first three
books but nothing in them quite prepared me for this one,
which reads like a conflation of Booker Prize shortlisted
masterworks like Graham Swift's _Waterland_, Ian McEwan's _Atonement_,
and even a touch of _The English Patient_. Hope he'll get to
translate it to the big screen.