Shock. In the NY Times, there's an obit about Robert Rosenblum. Wrote a condolence letter to Jane Kaplowitz. Don't have her e.mail.

Went to the MJM Christmas party last night, ran into Rea Tajiri.

Hadn't checked the website of AMMI, so i didn't realize that the screening of "Out One" was sold-out. Oh, well: there's another screening in the spring, so maybe i'll catch it then. Or it may be the phantom movie forever. But then i ran into Ira Hozinsky and George Robinson at the press screening for "The Case of the Grinning Cat", and they informed me of the sell-out.

Seeing "The Case of the Grinning Cat" was disconcerting: the narration had been translated into English. At the Tribeca Film Festival, the film was narrated in French, with English subtitles. But Chris Marker likes to make language-specific editions. The DVD of "La Jetee" and "Sans Soleil" has an English-language track, which Marker supervised himself. I still think it's a brilliant work, but i missed hearing French.

At the screening, talked with Jim Hoberman and Tony Pipolo; we discussed movies of the year, since it's that time again, i.e., the year-end "Ten Best" polls. One question that so many people have is about Melville's "Army of Shadows": that really was a film that never had any regular screenings prior to this year. It truly was a "discovery" of this year.

Even though i knew Robert Rosenblum had been ill, death is always a surprise.