Sincerely, Erik, a poignant and enchanting new short film written and directed by Naz Riahi, opens quietly. A man enters his apartment's small kitchen, turns on some music (Mozart) and pours a cup of his morning beverage. He sips, breathes deeply. Who is this guy? Soon we see him at his front door, masked and gloved, shouldering a large tote bag. Then there's an exterior shot of a sun-drenched tree, followed by one of the man leaving his building. We hear a voice-over, assume it's him:
Dear Suzanne, I hope this note finds you well. Seeing your name on the order form, I couldn't help but think of the Leonard Cohen song. I see that like his Suzanne you live on the Hudson, too. Sorry, I know that sounds weird. I didn't look you up. I mean to be honest, sometimes I'm inclined to when someone orders a book I particularly like, especially these days. But, then again, I like all the books I carry, so the inclination kind of died right out of the gate knowing that I'd never be able to look up every single customer.
So, a New York City bookseller in the time of Covid-19 pandemic.
I hope you like this book [Ernest Hemingway's The Garden of Eden] as much as I do.... I don't actually trust anything published posthumously, but this novel is good. I think it's great. Maybe, when the store opens up again, you can come down and let me know what you think. Sincerely, Erik.
Last week, I discovered the perfect film for this strange and unprecedented summer. My affection and respect for Sincerely, Erik has only deepened with subsequent viewings. For book people--particularly those of us in the book trade right now--this film captures the essence of a tenuous balance between isolation and community that defines our work and personal lives, in or out of the city. Moments of grace are hard won. We find them where we can. And this beautiful film found me somehow. Where did it come from, I wondered. So I asked.
In the real world, "the man" is actually Erik DuRon, owner of Left Bank Books on Perry St. in the West Village. His shop specializes in used, vintage and rare books in literature and the arts. DuRon observed that "it's important for us to create a small but immersive environment where people can spend time encountering books as cultural artifacts, where they can learn about and appreciate not just the content of a book, but also its material history. Most of our stock is pre-digital, which means that while the objects themselves are by no means one-of-a-kind, all the design elements within, from typeface to layout to illustration art was more or less done by hand."
He added that Sincerely, Erik "partakes of the same spirit, and hopefully that gets communicated. While the story is fiction, and 'Erik' is a character, working with Naz was remarkable in that all we did was talk a few times late at night in the midst of the pandemic, and the next thing I knew I was reading this script that so clearly expressed things I felt and thought. We knew making the actual film during quarantine posed risks, but we were careful, respectful, and worked quickly with an almost instinctive sense that this was a moment that needed to be captured."
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Riahi recalled that when she first met DuRon, "it felt like I'd met a kindred spirit. We both have MFAs in creative writing and we both tell stories in our own ways--I write and make films and he does through his bookstore and its spectacular curation. So, it was a natural fit for us to work together, for me to write a script set in his world, which is actually my own fantasy world. The character he plays is based on a combination of the both of us."
She described bookstores and libraries as her "happy place. They have been since childhood. I grew up in Iran, in my grandfather's study, surrounded by books. He was a very notable and venerated poet and lyricist--Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi. When I was a very small child, I'd sit on the floor of his study and watch him work. Occasionally I would pull a book off the shelf. That was my introduction to Verne, Balzac, Tolstoy and the many Iranian writers he read and referenced."
When her short film was released a couple of weeks ago, Riahi posted on Instagram: "I can't even begin to tell you how much love went into making this, from our tiny cast and crew. I wrote and directed in June (or, early Pandemic) hoping to capture a specifically strange time of isolation. I hope you love this film as much as we loved making it."
I do.
Dear Anna, I love this book's cover [Lucia Berlin's Where I Live Now] almost as much as I love the stories within.... I love what I do. I hope you love this book. You have great taste. I mean it. From your first order to this one, and everything in between. I wish I knew who you were, what other books lined your bookshelves. For now, I'll just have to imagine. As is, though, I'm grateful to have you as a customer. Take care. Sincerely, Erik.