{"id":148497,"date":"2020-10-21T13:43:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T17:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=148497"},"modified":"2020-10-21T13:43:35","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T17:43:35","slug":"five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

PHOTO \u00a9 OLIVIER ROLLER (DETAIL); MANUSCRIPT IMAGE COURTESY OF GALAXIA GUTENBERG<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe writing of Enrique Vila-Matas,\u201d Adam Thirlwell writes in his introduction to the Art of Fiction interview in\u00a0our current Fall issue<\/a>, \u201cis marked by a dazzling array of quotation, plagiarism, frames, self-plagiarism, digressions and meta-digressions: an intense and witty textual delirium that has made him one of the most original and celebrated writers in the Spanish language.\u201d Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, blending fiction, essay, and biography into a single form, he is also the director of two short films, <\/em>Todos los j\u00f3venes tristes and<\/em> Fin de verando, as well as a former film columnist for the magazine<\/em> Fotogramas. We asked him to tell us what he has watched during these past few months of isolation.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Malian-French director <\/span>Ladj Ly realizes a tense and impressive X-ray analysis of a Paris <\/span>banlieue<\/span><\/i> weighed down by an infinite number of problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Uncut Gems<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A fantastic film from the <\/span>Safdie brothers (Benny and Josh, filmmakers with a grand future) that places us in the insanely fast-paced shoes of a Jewish jeweler in New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrival<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Based on <\/span>Story of Your Life<\/span><\/i>, a perfect novella by Ted Chiang, this film directed by <\/span>Denis Villeneuve confirms that we ourselves are science fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Roma<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A poetic and subversive film from Mexican director <\/span>Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n brings us into the world of Cleo, a servant to a family in Mexico City\u2019s Colonia Roma at the beginning of the seventies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bande \u00e0 part<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A marvelous Anna Karina, and a memorable film from the seventies that I have returned to once again to invigorate myself. The director, <\/span>Jean-Luc Godard,<\/b> described it as \u201cAlice in Wonderland meets Kafka.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read our Art of Fiction interview with Enrique Vila-Matas in our Fall issue.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, he is also the director of two short films and a former film columnist for the magazine \u2018Fotogramas.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18642],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inside-the-issue"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine by The Paris Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, he is also the director of two short films and a former film columnist for the magazine \u2018Fotogramas.\u2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine by The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 21, 2020 \u2013 The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, he is also the director of two short films and a former film columnist for the magazine \u2018Fotogramas.\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-21T17:43:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"925\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\"},\"headline\":\"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-21T17:43:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/\"},\"wordCount\":317,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Inside the Issue\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/\",\"name\":\"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine by The Paris Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-21T17:43:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, he is also the director of two short films and a former film columnist for the magazine \u2018Fotogramas.\u2019\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine by The Paris Review","description":"The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, he is also the director of two short films and a former film columnist for the magazine \u2018Fotogramas.\u2019","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine by The Paris Review","og_description":"October 21, 2020 \u2013 The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, he is also the director of two short films and a former film columnist for the magazine \u2018Fotogramas.\u2019","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2020-10-21T17:43:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":925,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"The Paris Review","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Paris Review","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/"},"author":{"name":"The Paris Review","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e"},"headline":"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine","datePublished":"2020-10-21T17:43:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/"},"wordCount":317,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png","articleSection":["Inside the Issue"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/","name":"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine by The Paris Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png","datePublished":"2020-10-21T17:43:35+00:00","description":"The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas has not only written in nearly every genre, he is also the director of two short films and a former film columnist for the magazine \u2018Fotogramas.\u2019","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/234_vila-matas_v3_web.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/21\/five-films-enrique-vila-matas-is-watching-in-quarantine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five Films Enrique Vila-Matas Is Watching in Quarantine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e","name":"The Paris Review","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Paris Review"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148497"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148554,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148497\/revisions\/148554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}