VISUAL ARTS

Cox first discovered the writings of the great Jorge Luis Borges when he was approached by the BBC to direct an adaptation of one of his stories. He selected “Death and the Compass” about a master detective undone by his own brilliance. The choice is an apposite one for Cox, since this story contains Borges’ famous remark that “the world is a labyrinth,” a statement that holds true for the worlds depicted in most of Cox’s films. Where Borges is deliberately quite dry, even deadpan, Cox here deploys his most striking visual stylization, with dark, saturated colors, elaborate camera movement, video imagery and baroque sets and costumes.