782-785 The Apu Trilogy

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Trees
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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#101 Post by Trees » Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:57 pm

I saw Pather Panchali for the first time tonight. The film had a big impact on me. It's a sublime masterpiece. Hard to recall a film that is both as heart-breaking and life-affirming as this one. A big thank you to all the people involved in this restoration.

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aox
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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#102 Post by aox » Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:51 pm

Picked this up finally, and surprised this thread doesn't have more chatter post-release, but I guess everyone had a lot to say while it was being restored.

Just wish at least the first film had a contextual film commentary.

What are the best extras to focus on?

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domino harvey
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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#103 Post by domino harvey » Mon Nov 28, 2016 8:15 pm

Not :: kogonada's

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#104 Post by djproject » Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:10 am

aox wrote:Picked this up finally, and surprised this thread doesn't have more chatter post-release, but I guess everyone had a lot to say while it was being restored.

Just wish at least the first film had a contextual film commentary.

What are the best extras to focus on?
For sure, I would say Andrew Robinson's and Mamoun Hassan's essay should provide some context. Nearly all the interviews, including Ray's conversation with Gideon Bachmann, should help also.

There's a part of me that would like to see more conversation on it. But at the same time, I am not sure what else can be said than what is already there (unless you want to get into more detail about Bengali culture that has gone completely over the heads of all, if not most, Western audiences ... you know those "oppressive imperialist shitlords".)
domino harvey wrote:Not :: kogonada's
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have our pantheon of whipping boys here ;) =D

Though to be fair and serious, I actually liked his presentation on how the films were restored. Yes, I know what I said before hitting the Submit button and will not recant =p =D

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Morbii
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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#105 Post by Morbii » Sun May 07, 2017 7:09 am

Trees wrote:I saw Pather Panchali for the first time tonight. The film had a big impact on me. It's a sublime masterpiece. Hard to recall a film that is both as heart-breaking and life-affirming as this one. A big thank you to all the people involved in this restoration.
Just finished Pather Panchali tonight for the first time, and I couldn't have said it better, so I'll just quote you.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#106 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue May 05, 2020 6:36 pm

Revisiting the Apu Trilogy, Pather Panchali is still the standout film. I’ve never really cared much for Ray’s works in general, but this one is a perfect exhibit that mirrors as both a slice-of-life for caretakers and a coming-of-age tale. I admire how Ray refuses to become didactic about the sociopolitical poverty or social resilience, and instead opts to just show life as-is for a young boy experiencing the hardships of the world in sickness and death, as well as the beautiful details that only a child places so much weight on. When Apu tastes a bit of stolen fruit or plays with tools, his attention turns to wonder, and Ray’s meditation on these moments are the heart of the film, transforming a clearly-defined cultural composite into something universal. This is a film primarily told through the lens of a child, and his image of family connection and their complicated dynamics are resigned away from analysis to awe and appreciation.

However, we do spend time with these adults, especially Apu’s mother, outside of the child’s perspective, and in these instances can feel the weight of responsibility for physiological needs and how these can be at-odds with cultural customs and beliefs, like a moment when charity is offered. A scene of only natural wind-as-music knocking against the creaky makeshift walls of their home as the mother cares for a dying daughter plays out in real time and the details of her stress, minute actions to strive for agency, ultimately lead to her taking the only available hat of 'observer' as she surrenders to the powerlessness of her situation (the illness is as enigmatic as the weather), which drives home the drama of her situation better than an ambient score ever could.

Ray understands deeply that while details comprise the most intense scope of one's life in childhood, heavier circumstances overshadow them in adulthood, and in many ways this is a film about responsibility from opposing vantage points becoming closer together until they meet at the middle with Apu taking on adult-sized responsibility for the first time. The final act to bury the necklace that his sister had stolen is both a movement into understanding and accepting the complexity in people, not allowing this detail to define her while recognizing her imperfections and ethical compromise; as well as the transformation into adulthood, letting go of a detail to focus on the big picture. In this moment, Apu takes on the responsibility of what to do with this secret, and this is emblematic of the many difficult decisions a person needs to make in life, many of which require dilemmas without a solution in step with moral or cultural harmony.

Aparajito is more of a transitional film that didn’t hit me quite as hard the second time. The narrative swiftly grazes Apu’s own growth toward independence propelled by the final moment of the first film, but the wealth of focus is on the mother. This is Sarbajaya’s movie, and Ray validates her own humanity divorced from the role of female, mother, provider, etc. She is allowed to have reservations in him leaving in self-interest and emotional needs left unmet, with her degree of pressure (or lack thereof) to her son to meet them presented without judgment. Their relationship is rightly drawn as complex and unique, mysterious in reciprocity. This is the strength of this entry, which moves from a spacious detailed account from the first to a tentious relational demonstration. It’s also relatable for son/mother relationships across the globe during the period of adolescent independence conflicting with motherly loneliness and resistance to change. The melodrama that commences the film is devastating, and while I admired the cyclical return to detail for the mother in her desperate smile at the fireflies contrasted with her response to the details of the wind when tending to a family member on the other side of death in the first film, I couldn’t help but feel removed from impartial allegiance across both characters in the family system. It’s painfully sad that she was alone in this moment, and it’s to Ray’s credit that he doesn’t force a sympathetic voice to Apu, but doesn’t judge him either.

Apur Sansar fares better as a monumental portrait of a man orphaned by natural supports coping with adulthood. His early telling of the autobiographical novel he is writing is, for me, the film's finest moment. The look on older Apu's face as he specifically cites the joy in "details" in recalling his childhood cements precisely what was so powerful about the first film and the special experience of childhood that is irreplaceable and intangible in adulthood aside from those fond memories. The rest of the film plays out as a more interesting narrative but without the magic of detail the others pronounced. The notion of taking risks and finding blessings in opportunities is powerful and the ending is one of the best of any multi-film story, so it winds up being my second favorite, though the first is still impossible to match in how it balances organic beauty and darkness in the diverse scope of life with nostalgia and pain, yet always remaining present for a moment longer than expected to signify the tools we have - in film, memory, or mindful meditative practice - to hold onto impermanent experience in a way that transcends time and space.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#107 Post by nitin » Wed May 06, 2020 3:12 am

wow, you are not an S Ray fan? Major plot twist...

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#108 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed May 06, 2020 3:21 pm

I wish it weren't so. I can see the strengths in his work and tend to gravitate toward the Renoir-inspirations of a gentle touch in tapping into the soft spots of humanity which is when I find him most accessible, as opposed to the neo-realist influences that often detach me in their attempts at intimacy. I can't say I've ever disliked one of his films, but none have particularly moved me aside from this trilogy. Like most films, I'm sure that one day I'll go back with a different perspective and eat these words, and I should note that I've only seen the films available in the CC.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#109 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed May 06, 2020 3:25 pm

Not even Charulata? Oh, dear!

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#110 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed May 06, 2020 3:29 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 3:25 pm
Not even Charulata? Oh, dear!
Actually that one was much better than the rest, and I got a kick out of The Hero for a chunk of it as a change of pace though I remember very little, but yeah nothing has wow'd me. Particularly The Music Room has always left me puzzled, but I'm sure there'd be merit there too if I went back.

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zedz
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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#111 Post by zedz » Wed May 06, 2020 3:36 pm

There's quite a variety of tones and styles amongst his films, so you might get more out of something tougher like The Adversary. And if you're a fan of his Renoir side, then Days and Nights in the Forest could be just what you're looking for.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#112 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed May 06, 2020 4:18 pm

Thanks, I'll seek those out!

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#113 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed May 06, 2020 5:04 pm

Still waiting on a proper release of Days and Nights in the Forest....

Music Room is sort of in a world of its own, very different from Ray's other works from around that time. I admire it (and lover the music) -- but it is not among my most loved.

In the Big City is a very good -- and if you need a horror story of sorts, there's the really harrowing Goddess.

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senseabove
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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#114 Post by senseabove » Wed May 06, 2020 5:28 pm

I found Goddess/Devi a little bit of a let-down, but perhaps my hopes were high after reading Kael's unusually fawning review of it. One of my Eclipse-upgrade dreams, though, is The Home and the World—which is currently on the channel, if anyone hasn't seen it. I think it and Charulata are my favorite Ray outside the trilogy.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#115 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed May 06, 2020 6:34 pm

I would never _fawn_ over Goddess -- but I like it a lot. Didn't read much of anything in preparation for this (and probably am glad I didn't).

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#116 Post by Calvin » Thu May 07, 2020 4:39 am

Criterion UK release coming on May 25th
Michael Kerpan wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 5:04 pm
Still waiting on a proper release of Days and Nights in the Forest....
Same here, though if I recall correctly it wasn't even on the list of 18 Ray films that Criterion were planning to restore. Speaking of, it's been 2 years since their last Ray release...

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#117 Post by nitin » Thu May 07, 2020 5:42 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 3:21 pm
I wish it weren't so. I can see the strengths in his work and tend to gravitate toward the Renoir-inspirations of a gentle touch in tapping into the soft spots of humanity which is when I find him most accessible, as opposed to the neo-realist influences that often detach me in their attempts at intimacy. I can't say I've ever disliked one of his films, but none have particularly moved me aside from this trilogy. Like most films, I'm sure that one day I'll go back with a different perspective and eat these words, and I should note that I've only seen the films available in the CC.
Ha, I should note that I've only seen The Music Room, and that only late last year plus a rewatch earlier this year, but it is currently my second favorite movie of all time!

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#118 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Jul 09, 2020 11:24 pm

zedz wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 3:36 pm
There's quite a variety of tones and styles amongst his films, so you might get more out of something tougher like The Adversary. And if you're a fan of his Renoir side, then Days and Nights in the Forest could be just what you're looking for.
I liked Days and Nights in the Forest well enough (I also caught The Chess Players which was impressively creative if not particularly enjoyable as a whole), but The Adversary was stellar. Not really because it was “tough,” though the brashness in circumstance was emphasized well by the jagged technique. I just loved the way Ray portrayed the experience of the life of someone who finds themselves in a bland middle space of no clear aspirations and passionate interests, and suffers as a result without membership to any social outlet or cause. The natural state of healthy consideration and identity development following a crisis is a burden internally and externally, and the only escape seems to be in retreating into blurred fantasy and memory which are used beautifully to contrast the more rugged expressionism. Even when his friend tries to entertain a hedonistic side, he can’t play ball, wrestling with a moral compass and fragments of a concrete identity that are too nebulous to leave the scene with confidence, or resign ideals and consummate the id.

I identified a lot with the lead, and found the idea of being indirectly consequenced for taking a grey route in life, or taking pause to engage in freethinking outside of ideology, to be fascinating in its specific portrayal here which allowed for universal appeal in not sacrificing the character’s honest depiction of behavior. The lead actor rightfully underplays his part on the surface with a sour disposition frozen on his face, and intermediate energy that cares enough to participate but exhausts and gives up without hope or support. And yet he elicits a surging internal definition of self that is hurting and confused. With a different actor this may not have worked so well, but ultimately this is an auteurist case for me, where Ray’s versatile technique is primarily responsible for how a familiar and potentially overcooked narrative completely succeeds with a combination of realistic bluntness and dreamy empathy.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#119 Post by swo17 » Mon Oct 16, 2023 2:04 pm


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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#120 Post by ryannichols7 » Mon Oct 16, 2023 2:15 pm

I may have been living under a rock, but did these get newer restorations from what's on the original BDs? cause this was a legitimate surprise to see on the coming soon page. given India's licensing methods, I would have to imagine the original BD box sold extremely well for them to take a punt on these for 4K

would be nice to see more/other Ray films that haven't gotten any BD love. Distant Thunder, Abhijan, The Chess Players, etc...

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#121 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Oct 16, 2023 2:15 pm

...Pratidwandi

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#122 Post by kekid » Mon Oct 16, 2023 2:44 pm

I would have preferred a double feature of Pratidwandi (The Adversary) and Aranyer Din Rātri (Days and Nights in the Forest) to a 4K upgrade of The Apu Trilogy, though the latter is an acknowledged masterpiece and deserves the best possible presentation.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#123 Post by onedimension » Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:07 pm

It appears these are the same restorations used for the blu ray set?

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#124 Post by criterionsnob » Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:13 pm

Yes, I was looking at this page recently (before today's announcement), and they were all listed as 4K restorations. I was thinking it would be an easy 4K upgrade.

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Re: 782-785 The Apu Trilogy

#125 Post by denti alligator » Mon Oct 16, 2023 8:01 pm

Surprised and delighted by this upgrade.

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