Goodbye, Nora!

I really can’t believe Nora Ephron left us.
I had the chance to meet her last January in New York, where we were seated in front of each other during a dinner at my friend Antonio Monda’s place. I was at first intimidated by the fact of having her at the other side of the table, but Nora was so kind and smiley that after literally 10 minutes we were talking and laughing together like we were old friends. It was quite easy to find a common ground: she was crazy about cinema as much as I am. That night, we were discussing about TV series. She was a huge fan of Homeland, a series I still had to see at that time (and when I saw it, I completely agreed with her), while she didn’t like The Killing, that I actually loved, and so we discussed a lot about plots, constructions, dialogues. She was very curious and genuinely interested in knowing my opinion, and this was very nice to experience. I remember she was incredibly witty: every now and then she was saying something so funny that every person around the table couldn’t stop laughing and looking at her sparkling and smiling eyes.
The only time I saw her a bit sad was when I asked about her new projects. She said she was writing and actually had some things ready but that it was very hard to find the money to produce them. I thought it was quite incredible that she had troubles finding money. I mean, Nora Ephron was not only a reputed filmmaker and screenwriter of great comedies, but also a committed artist, a feminist, an important novelist. There must be something rotten in the reign of Hollywood not to give enough space to a woman like that! Don't you think?
Before she left the apartment that night (together with her lovely husband Nicholas Pileggi, the screenwriter of Goodfellas and Casino by Martin Scorsese... hey, what a couple, by the way!), I managed to tell her my admiration: I do believe that When Harry Met Sally has been the last perfect American romantic comedy. And I also let her know that the first time I decided to visit New York (back in 2000), was immediately after having seen You’ve got m@il. I told her: once I saw New York in that movie, I just couldn’t wait any longer to come here! She seemed happy to hear that.

I’ve always been in love with that movie: the streets of New York in autumn, the bookshop of Kathleen Kelly: The shop around the corner (of Lubitsch-esque memory)... ah, the deception when I found out it wasn’t real!, the apartment where Kathleen lives, Kathleen and Joe’s chatting, the presence of Indie actress Parker Posey in the role of Joe’s girlfriend, the café where they met the first time (Café Lalo, and that was real, because I went there immediately!)… everything was so charming, adorable, funny, and incredibly romantic. But never cheesy, because Nora Ephron was too smart to be cheesy.

There was this sentence, simple but really special, that was stuck in my memory for ever and was almost a compendium of what New York means to me: Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

I think that if I knew Nora's new address, this is what I would send her today: a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils, with a short note: Thank you!