had recently died

[EUNJJUNG]

I'm reading "The Story of Black" by John Hobby. I have one question.

"Tarkovsky's Nostalgia, of 1983, ends with two long takes. In the first, a Russian who has been self-exiled in Italy for many years pays homage to a friend who has recently died."

Does that mean He is dying? or is he dead? what does it mean?
Why is the underlined sentence written as 'present perfect tense'?

 

[teechar]

Does that mean He is dying?

No, it can never (in no context) mean that.

or is he dead?

Yes, that's right.

Why is the underlined sentence written [STRIKE]as '[/STRIKE] in the present perfect tense?

We use the present perfect for a recent past action or a past action that is still relevant in the present.

 

[Tdol]

And we often use present tense forms to talk about the plots of movies, plays and novels.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Tarkovsky's Nostalgia, of 1983, ends with two long takes. In the first, a Russian who has been self-exiled in Italy for many years pays homage to a friend who has recently died."

Does that mean he is dying no question mark here or is he dead? What does it mean?
Why is the underlined sentence written [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] in the no quotation mark here present perfect tense no quotation mark here?

Note my corrections above. As Rover said, book/film narratives are often given in the present tense.

If someone simply asked you, "What happened in the penultimate take of Tarkovsky's Nostalgia?", you could write this:

"A Russian who had been self-exiled in Italy for many years paid homage to a friend who had recently died."

("Take" is a strange choice there. I would expect "scene".)