At 85, the director of “A Lonely Man’s War” and the author of wonderful literary pieces such as “The Bride of Odessa” and Dark died this morning. He had lived for 15 years in France.
Edgardo Cozarinsky He had a sharp and kind gaze, refined knowledge of culture in general and writing and cinema in particular, and an enviable capacity for creative work. He was cordial but not at all unctuous, he cultivated friendship without fanfare, and he always wore a suit. An old Buenos Aires man, who left this morning at the age of 85, a victim of cancer.
The son of Ukrainian Jews, a frequent visitor to cinemas, bookstores and writers, he made a name for himself as a journalist in the cultural sections of “Panorama” and “Primera Plana”, founded with his great friend the critic Alberto Tabbia an excellent film magazine, “Flashback”unfortunately short-lived, was tested with an experimental film, “Ellipsis”wrote “Borges and cinema”an analytical compilation of the writer as critic, adapter and adaptor, won his first prize with an essay on gossip as a literary form in Proust and Henry James (co-written with Jose Bianco) and the following year, 1974, he moved to Paris.
There he began his work as a notable documentary filmmaker, with works such as “One Man’s War”about the memoirs of the German officer Ernst Jungervery cultured, during the Nazi Occupation in Paris (Junger would abjure National Socialism even before the war ended); “Boulevards du crepuscule”about the contrasting lives of two French artists in Argentina (the Falconetti and Le Vigan), “The Barrack. Lorca on the roads of Spain”, “Le cinema des Cahiers”portraits of Jean Cocteau and Henri Langloisa beautiful chapter about “Footlights” in the series “Chaplin Today”, all dissemination works on cultural circuits and channels. Beautiful too, “Rothschild’s violin”about a short Jewish-affair opera begun by Fleischmanncompleted by Shostakovichprohibited by Stalin, and still alive and delicious. In “The ghosts of Tangier”among other things, went in search of the writer Paul Bowles.
Cozarinsky also made several fictional films, not as successful or as luminous as the documentaries. The first, “Warriors and captives”, which marked his return to the country in 1989. Co-production inspired by a story from Borgeshad an impressive cast: Dominique Sanda, China Zorrilla, Leslie Caron, Federico Luppi, Duilio Marzio, Selva Alemán and the youngsters Gabriela Toscano and Juan Palomino.
He did better as a writer of stories, essays and memoirs, from “Urban voodoo”1985, with prologues by Susan Sontag and Guillermo Cabrera Infante, “Museo del chisme” (where he reworked that award-winning essay on gossip as a literary genre), “Milongas”, “Palacios plebeyos” (the old movie theaters), “The Bride from Odessa”, “In the last drink we leave”, “Dark” and other titles. He also tried himself successfully as an actor and playwright.
You see it in some movies. Young man, dancing and carrying prey to Valeria Lynch in “Civilization is making mass and does not let us hear”of Julio Ludueñaironic in the Parisian “Dialogue of exiles”from Chilean Raul Ruiz (later became Raoul Ruiz), funny and unsuccessful seducer in a self-created episode of “Limited edition”and in the confessed balance of one’s own life in “Duet”made with four hands with another friend, the actor Rafael Ferro. That was his last creation, last year. He is now gone, leaving no successors.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
