Cahiers du Cinéma

Marcus. Oh my.

I really like how the title of the magazine opens up how I read these pieces – Life connected to film criticism strikes me as a great approach. Life as film, certainly. Each part here is marvelous in its own way. But, they never fail to harmonize. I'm thinking Godard, as well, as I read these. Part three made my head explode - in fact I'm typing telepathically now since I scooting around the room to gather the pieces - There I'm done.

Also, like your refusal to capitalize here. That works for me.

1988 is my favorite, if I had to choose, and I don't so that's a relief.

I also can visualize you adding to this.

Star.

I don't know a thing about vampire novels. I much prefer it that way, but this is intriguing, nonetheless.

Quite good actually.

Vampire as metaphor. Yes.

I read your cinema notebook several times, Marcus, and each time the entries seemed more sinister. La Plata, the "city of the missing" - gives me the creeps! Fortunately, I like the fear factor, love Lovecraft, and am just mad for Maupassant’s Le Horla. Fave.

The vision, the approach, the language--all original. So why end such a powerful piece with a cliche? (I get the bat/vampire thing, but nevertheless...)

Smooth doings here. I can see Bill's point about the end but have no suggestion for rephrasing.

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sam, thanks for your generous comment. most interesting. when i attempted to extend this earlier it didn't work. as i said (and i wasn't exaggerating or embellishing) this is autobiographical down to the heartbeat (but bar the presence of the undead, of course, apart from 1988, which is my favorite also). it's been a good life so far.

james, in the context of the history of argentina, the undead, the missing, the vampires even, are more than a metaphor. in europe especially there's a lot of history, important esp. in the current context (christianity vs islam once again) at stake here. this of course is not necessary to appreciate a short piece like this and i thank you for reading and comment!

frank, thank you for perceiving the creepiness underlying this whole "cinema notebook". Le Horla, Lovecraft are all deliciously scary, big faves of mine, too - thanks for giving me great company!

ooh, bill, what fun these comments are, i appreciate it. cliché, mais oui, but i borrowed the cliché on purpose here in relation to the undead/missing in argentine. when i was there, history was quite palpable and cliché-ridden. to expatiate further would go beyond the scope of this little commentary section...but beyond standard editing strategies of transforming the cliché (cp. e.g. http://bit.ly/bpV34c) there are, how to put it, mitigating circumstances as what i allude to in '1988'. Me comprends-tu?

hey, ann, "smooth doings" sounds good, thank you. i love learning new ways of giving and getting appreciation...

wow...love this

I find as we age, we live as the sum of our past, we don't let sleeping parachutists lie. That said, the experiences at times counteract each other and give us an atrophy of inaction, and for me reliving them through writing (& reading other's) reinvigorates that aspect of our being and fights the stasis.

Which this did for me,in part this morning. The filmakers you mention would be adoring these fragments.

Cool story. Just all-around different...I really enjoy the flashes by date. 1978 is my fave...love the ending line.

Amazing comment by Walter!

So lovely. I agree w/Ann- Walter perfectly articulates the mood of the piece and the act of reading it.
Fave!

Stunning, Marcus. I can't choose a fave episode, but this line made me swoon:

"when i look in the mirror, i have no shadow."

Fave.

walter, thank you. this paragraph of yours will, i hope, magically attach itself to my text. beautifully said. glad i didn't "let sleeping parachutists lie".

jules, much appreciated. if you favor '1978' you're either younger than any of us, or older than any of us. it's down to you. the last line, qua the much-discussed cliche, contains conflict, of course: melancholy and cone-bearing trees (the buildings in la plata actually look like large, thin, lonely trees) move slowly. and the terror leaves the cities slowly, too.

thank you kim - you might remember the scene in polanski's 'dance of the vampires'...

thanks kathy, marcelle, i appreciate comment and reading!

Fascinating. I don't know much about vampires either, except that they're fashionable. For once, I like what's fashionable. I would put a period before "out of hell" even thought it defies grammar.

Woah, the episodic approach is in the air -- it's what I'm doing this week too (though I am not writing about vampires). Thanks for this much appreciated alternative to Stephanie Meyer et al, Marcus. Lovely to read, lovely to behold. I like 'em all.

thanks beate - yeah, fashionable little blood suckers. gotta love that. no period, period ;-)

michelle, thanks very much. episodic approach: perhaps an autumnal effect. leaves falling, friends scattering. who knows, but i'm looking forward to see yours now that you've seen mine!

This piece is beyond stunning. Everything works, the voice, the images, the longing, the melancholy. Please expand this. This is brillaint.

Fav.

each one of these excerpts could be the start of a chapter...keep the mystery going! superb....
loved it!

thank you, isabelle and heather, for your very kind comments & more. i wish i knew how to expand it. the muse, the muse...

Well if this is what a short exile did for you, I'm game to try one myself! Seriously, this is different in feel than what I'm used to from FF (whose work I adored), but this feels somehow aged (argentine beef?)
Gorgeous stuff here, Marcus
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.. drunken from too much air and abandon..indeed. This is mighty stuff. Mighty in its brevity and mighty in its impact on the brain.Classic work from an original.

susan, thank you. i feel aged in a good way. will take another 'exile' as you call it to give the old novel another spin. your comment: encouraging!

darryl, thanks very much for saying that. 'impact on the brain' indeed, that's the plan, isn't it. and from the brain, to everywhere.

melancholy flies, as you fly out of a parachute.

thank you for giving this a read, estelle, i appreciate it. parachuting is great - i wish i still had the courage!

Excellent writing, detailed and cinematic. I like the montage: mounted on top of an autumn day years later. Reading this, we become the person in the montage, the person left behind, and the person moving on.

wonderfully put, j. mykell - thank you. i think all writing that we perceive as grounded is autobiographic-with biography happening on many more levels than the physical process of birth-life-death.

wish I could give each part of this a star and one for that author's note as well. ****, like all the finest restaurants I know.

thank you very much indeed, julie. food's just as important to me as it is to you apparently. i'd have thought as much.

"make me wonder if i am the person in their midst or if, by moving on, i have left him there, listening, sleeping, eating, wanting" - read this note, after I'd had the thought.

Wonderful. Again. As usual.

thanks, boudreau, very kind of you! you know of course, if you had that thought, it means you're getting older ... but you knew that...

I love these poetic flashes by date. Great impact and beauty. I’m left wanting more years, more time. Your author’s note, especially the first part, is so striking.

kari, your wish is my command - i'm expanding these now. it's fun, too. thanks so much for reading and commenting.

There's a quiet, persistent intensity to this that's absolutely irresistible. I don't know what else to say other than bravissimo. -- Q

thank you so much, quenby! stay tuned for the next edition of blue fifth review where the extended version will appear soon accompanied by a short essay. cheers!

loved this so much.I also the absence of capital letters. The small" i", in my view, reflects the smallnes of man.

beautifully written. look forward to more!

that woman from norway showed up, songless in my shower.

bloodless, too.

fav

thanks dris, carol, gary, appreciate the read!

@gary: that woman...i adored her so much. how vivid the past can be.

@carol: in a couple of days tops at blue fifth review...

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thank you mata, i appreciate it. it's a short comment but a meaningful one!

You have so many lengthy positive comments, and I agree with them all. Marvelous. *

thank you, grey. one can never get enough positive comments, i say. check out the full story at BFR if you wish.

"waiting for the next time when we'll be allowed to leave our coffins and jump."

What do we not to feel alive?

I like your vampiric ambition in this. Maybe you don't need to write a vampire novel after all.

The part from 2000 in the extended version makes me think of the first version of Nosferatu.

Splendid! The episode in La Plata is now running four screenings daily in my head. *

berit, thank you. "vampiric ambition" cooly describes what is actually quite a (hidden) passion that i will need to act on...one day i will have to write a novel i think. or several. and live forever. on blood. [...] yes, nosferatu indeed! i chose a still from that movie for a german translation of that episode!

thank you fred. i'm glad i could project that for you. let me tell you: some of this is true and i can never forget la plata. the thunderstorms. the buildings. the people. the land.

This is beautiful - I love every episode, but the last has the most power for me.

Seven months too late, Sophie, but it still lovely to hear you say that. Glad you enjoyed!

Shelter from the storm drew me in. Love the vampire montage though I'm partial to werewolves. Fave*

congratulations, Marcus, for your several successes with the extension of this story.