From Les trois couronnes du matelot, 1983
I have made my decision. There is something odd about writing a story in the past tense even though it has yet to take place. I suppose, the present tense would be better, and easier. I had started by saying: Silver’s men gather on board the ship in a cabin near the galley. The sea is visible. Birds circle overhead, above the ship, a sign that the location must be quite close. The boy makes his way towards us, crossing the deck without appearing to notice us, though he knows I must be there. He vanishes from sight. Almost immediately, we see him in the canteen. He’s hungry. He discovers the apple-barrel. A scout signals to Silver’s men. One of them says, unnaturally loud, in a kind of theatrical way: “Oh no, we can’t. We can’t kill him.” To which another replies: “Oh yes we can.” And so on.
—Raoul Ruiz, In Pursuit of Treasure Island, 2008
As it must to all men…
He couldn’t have gone out on a better, more ambitious note. And I doubt I’m going to be able to watch that hallucinogenic final scene of Mysteries of Lisbon again without crying.
Oh, man, what an incredible loss – he does appear by all accounts to have gone out on a four-hour-plus high note. So long, Sr. Ruiz.
http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2011/08/19/raul-ruiz-has-left-the-building/
A truly sad day. One of my absolute favorite filmmakers/thinkers/writers and the only of whom I can say I’ve seen maybe 30 or 40+ films and not even reached the halfway point. Films and books I will return to again and again.
I feel like such a sack of poo for bailing on the Mysteries of Lisbon screening at the Seattle Film Festival because of the daunting (and, I must say, delightfully surprising) lines outside on a rare sunny Seattle day this early June.