338. Jalsaghar/The Music Room (1958)

Running Time: 91 minutes
Directed By: Satyajit Ray
Written By: Satyajit Ray, from novel by Tarashankar Banerjee
Main Cast: Chhabi Biswas, Padma Devi, Pinaki Sen Gupta, Gangapada Bose, Tulsi Lahari

CULTURE CLASH

I broke my cell phone today which was a major bummer.  I took it out of my pocket, just to give a quick check of the time and BAM - right through my fingers and to the ground. Despite a protective case, when I picked it up, it was a black screen. Also, despite paying for insurance every month, which I just assumed would cover me if anything happened to the phone (I think I was thinking more along the lines of a warranty and it's actually just insurance), turns out I had to pay $100 just to get a replacement. Oh well...such is life. New phone is overnight shipping and should be here tomorrow. In the meantime, let's bash some Indian movies...

I'm not going to lie, it was a struggle for me to get through this. I kept referencing the Apu trilogy in my head and telling myself, "you will not like this". Shame on me for ruining my experience with this movie from the get go. But, honestly, it was all true. I was never going to like this movie and there's just something about Indian cinema, particularly that of Satyajit Ray, that I have a hard time sitting through. The film is about a man named Roy, a landlord, who in his glory would hold gatherings in his music room, complete with invited guests and live entertainment. When we join him, Roy now spends his days smoking his pipe and doing a lot of nothing, a shell of former self, now all alone and coveting others. When a neighbor, Ganguly, calls upon Roy and tells him of a party HE plans to throw, Roy announces that he was also planning a party for the same day. Ganguly revokes his plans, citing that Roy is a higher class (or once was) and Roy sells everything valuable that his family owns (including his jewels), in an effort to earn the money and put on his party, one upping Ganguly in the process. You see, these gatherings, parties or whatever you want to call them were kind of a big deal to Roy, so when he realizes he can't throw them without bankrupting himself, it shows him that he's past his prime. His wife and child are also killed over the course of the film, leaving a pretty broken down and depressed man by film's end.

Despite watching nearly 900 films from THE BOOK, broadening my tastes to the max, I still just can't settle into some movies. There's still a part of me that wants my movies in the English language and released in the years since my birth. I hate it, I really do, but there IS a little part of me that wants my movies to meet these criteria. I love foreign films, I do, but there's a small part of me that says "movies from my country won't provide as much of a challenge, there won't be a culture clash, you'll understand everything better". I also really love a lot of old movies, yet there's a part of me that says just about the same thing - "you'd understand a more modern movie better, it would be more relateable". Shame on me, I know. I'm only reminded of these facts about my tastes when I watch something like The Music Room and while I understand the plot, the film still misses on all cylinders. I tell you, I could not have been less interested in this movie. I just had no desire to watch it and ONLY watched it because it stood in my way to finishing the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book. I don't know what it was, but the film just put me off in every way. And it's not even the movies fault, probably, it's me. Yes, I'm giving this movie the it's not you it's me routine...THAT'S MY ROUTINE! (Seinfeld reference).

Anyway, Ray just doesn't do it for me apparently and that's that. I hate the fact that I was forced to admit that I only watched this to get through THE BOOK, as I want every film to impact me, for me to really try with every film, but I couldn't be bothered to fight for this one, to try and like it any more than I did, which wasn't much. Also, I think the fact that the DVD copy that I had (from Netflix, mind you) was probably the most amateur looking DVD I've ever encountered. Subtitles that lingered until a new subtitle was needed. Meaning, let's say someone said something and then no one else spoke dialogue for ten minutes - then that last line would remain on the screen until someone else finally spoke: ANNOYING! Also the fact that the company that made the DVD had their logo plastered in the upper right hand corner and the overall quality was just rubbish, made this one a hard one to get into anyway. Even though it was from the 50s, it looked like something from the 30s, very poor, very dated.

RATING: 2/10  I'll give the '2' because the plot wasn't that bad and actually made sense. Again, I take all the credit for hating this one - totally my fault, guys.

MOVIES WATCHED: 895
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 106

January 15, 2015  5:42pm

347. Apur Sansar/The World of Apu (1959)

Running Time: 107 minutes
Directed By: Satyajit Ray
Written By: Satyajit Ray, from the novel Aparajita by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Main Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Swapan Mukherjee, Alok Chakravarty, Sefalika Devi

THE APU TRILOGY: 3 of 3

It was my goal this week to try and bang out as many movies/reviews as I could and I think I've been doing a pretty decent job, probably on one of my strongest movie watching streaks all season - trying my best to get some of that fire back as we head into the home stretch and closer and closer to only having one hundred movie remaining.

The final piece of the Apu Trilogy is "The World of Apu" and we once again revisit with the child we were introduced to in Pather Panchali. This time around, Apu (Chatterjee) is now a full grown adult, living in shoddy digs, barely able to pay his rent (he's three months behind - that's twenty-one rupees!) and trying to breakout as a writer. He has aspirations of writing a great novel, which he begins to write. Bumping into his old friend Pulu (Mukherjee), the two reminisce before Pulu invites Apu to his sister's wedding. Apu really doesn't want to go, but finally gives in. Once there, the groom backs out of the ceremony (cold feet, I guess?) and fearing his sister's disgrace, Pulu asks Apu if he'll step in and marry her instead (I can't make this stuff up). Reluctantly Apu agrees and the two newlyweds live happily ever after....well, not quite, as that only puts us at about the thirty or so minute mark. The bride is named Aparna (Tagore) and Apu hesitantly brings her back to his shoddy household, which he's embarrassed to even let a woman see, let alone his new wife. She doesn't care, however and the two actually hit it off. THE BOOK points out that it's one of the best and happiest marriages to ever exist in fiction and I'd be hard pressed to disagree. Apparently Indian custom dictates that when a woman gives birth she must be in the presence of her parents or something, because when it's time for Aparna to have their child, she returns home to her mother and father. While away tragedy strikes, but it's the Apu trilogy, so you really should have been expecting some sort of tragedy, right?

SPOILER ALERT!

This movie has a few plots all rolled into one movie. We've all seen movies where strangers are somehow forced into marriage and have to make it work (usually comedies) and we've seen movies where a mother dies during childbirth only to have the father and child have to somehow bond without that vital missing piece (usually dramas), yet The World of Apu somehow and seamlessly stitches together both plots into one movie and the result....well, the result wasn't that great for yours truly. There's just something about these movies that alienates me and doesn't let me in. It's like looking into someone else's window in Christmas Eve. You see the whole family in there: mom, dad, grandma and even crazy uncle Joe. They all look like they're having a blast, they're happy, they're smiling, they're tearing open gifts and it's as if there's not a bad memory in sight. However, as good as it all looks, you still know you don't belong and that you have your own family waiting back home - your own crazy uncle Joe. This sums up my relationship to the Apu trilogy pretty well, I think. There's nothing wrong with these movies, but they're just not for me. I have my own movies that are custom fitted to my own personal tastes waiting for me and even though these movies aren't bad, they somehow still manage to leave me out in the cold.

I will say that this one is just a hair better than the other two, but not by a lot. I liked the way everything started out - no more kid actors and an aspiring novelist living in less than ample quarters, hoping to one day be heralded. He plays the flute to put himself to sleep at night and somehow sweet talks the landlord into letting him stay one more day, despite being three months behind on rent. Then he goes to this wedding and is somehow coerced into marrying this girl and miraculously, they make it work. It all goes downhill when she dies and Apu goes on this mission to find himself. Oy vey. THE BOOK notes that The World of Apu also revolves around two deaths: the death of Aparna and the death of Apu...spiritually. Give me a break! I could go on and on about how mediocre these films came off to me, but what's the point - I think you get the idea. I didn't mind them as much as I thought I would, but am honestly really glad to have them behind me so that I can get onto (hopefully) better things.

RATING: 5.5/10  I needed my rating to convey that this one was a little better, hence the '5.5', but ultimately none of them will be going on to any of my favorites lists.

MOVIES WATCHED: 863
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 138

October 28, 2014  9:20pm

322. Aparajito/The Unvanquished (1957)

Running Time: 113 minutes
Directed By: Satyajit Ray
Written By: Satyajit Ray, from novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Main Cast: Smaran Ghosal, Karuna Banerjee, Pinaki Sen Gupta, Kanu Banerjee, Ramani Ranjan Sen

THE APU TRILOGY: 2 of 3

Of course when I said on Saturday to "check back tomorrow" for the review of Aparajito, I clearly meant to check back Monday and you just heard it wrong :) Nonetheless, here we are and if everything goes as planned this won't be the last review you read this week - by a long shot.

The second film in Ray's "Apu Trilogy" picks up pretty much where the first one left off. Apu is still a child, mother is still the pillar of the household - slightly depressed maybe, but letting everything fall on her shoulders - and dad is now a priest, with the entire family now living in a more populated area. I wouldn't consider it a spoiler alert to tell you that the father, Harihar (Kanu Banerjee) dies within the first twenty minutes of the movie and that basically sets us up for this movie, a further examination of the relationship between Apu and his mom, Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee). Here's hoping you've seen Pather Panchali before you read that, or else it kind of would be a spoiler alert, if you're trying to watch the trilogy as one big movie. Anyway, at a young age, Apu shows interest in wanting to attend school and his mother finally gives in. He begins school and actually does really well, earning high marks and extra attention from his professors. A montage of Apu expanding his knowledge and sharing his new found wisdom with his mother takes from his childhood into his adolescence, now ready for college and needing permission from mom to accept a scholarship to go and study in Calcutta. At first, mom says no, but it's only her impending loneliness speaking for her and after a brief altercation between mother and son, she gives in and even gives him some of her savings to get him started in the city. While away at college, however, Sarbajaya falls ill, perhaps somewhat driven by her loneliness and depression.

SPOILER ALERT!

I really expected to like this one more than Pather Panchali, but after some thought, I think I liked the first in Ray's "Apu Trilogy" better. I will say this one SHOULD HAVE been better though, as there wasn't a period of introducing us to the characters to get through and really it was just a solid two hours of telling us more of the story we'd already started in the original. Otherwise, my thoughts on this are very similar, expect I would say that the characters develop deeper feelings in this one. I was shocked to see the father get rubbed out so quickly into the second film and even more shocked to see the mother die as well. I actually really liked her and am left wondering if she's been in anything else. She brought a deepness to her character, in an otherwise basic movie complete with a fairly basic plot and otherwise basic characters. I loved how they referred back to the train and how in the original film it was a symbol of the children's hopes & dreams and how in Aparajito, it was a symbol of the mother's loneliness and yearning to have her family back, particularly Apu in her final hour of need. It really came full circle and I'm left wondering (again) if they'll reincorporate the train into the third installment somehow - if it was Hollywood they would and then there'd be some sappy score and a tear stained face belonging to Apu. I'll be interested to see how they roll in India.

Despite not being taken by this one, I'm STILL looking forward to The World of Apu, in hopes that they really bring everything back full circle and tie everything up in a nice bow. I'm curious to see where the Apu character goes from here and how many more characters Ray kills off - seriously does this guy write for Game of Thrones (never seen the show, but I hear characters die off like wildfire). I think my biggest problems with these movies is just the culture clash and how I'm just SO accustomed to Hollywood movie making. Even after sifting through THE BOOK for years now, in some ways I'm still in a certain mode and still like a certain thing. In a lot of ways my tastes have changed drastically, yet there's parts of me that likes what I like and likes what I've always liked and these movies just don't fall completely into that category. Watching them on a laptop probably doesn't help matters either, but there's really not much I can do about that. However, on the other hand, I watched Greed on my computer (so many years ago) and I loved that freaking movie. Anyway, I'm ready for the third in the trilogy and am hoping (yet skeptical) that it'll blow these two out of the water.

RATING: 5/10  Same rating and like I said, I think Panchali is a bit better, although this one got certain things better, so it's a tough call. I loved the mother's performance in this one and the scene with her watching the train was definitely powerful.

MOVIES WATCHED: 861
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 140

October 27, 2014  4:45pm

286. Pather Panchali (1955)

Running Time: 115 minutes
Directed By: Satyajit Ray
Written By: Satyajit Ray, from novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Main Cast: Subir Banerjee, Runki Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Chunibala Devi

THE APU TRILOGY: 1 of 3

So here we go with these finally, a trio of movies I've been putting off for far too long. I don't know why I dreaded these films so much (perhaps a passing comment by Ray in the comments section, probably years ago now?), but I have. After watching the first one last night, I can already realize that they were nothing to fret about.

The film is pretty cut & paste type stuff, telling the tale of a very poor family and centering around a young Bengali boy named Apu. In fact, when the film starts Apu is not yet born, as we meet mother Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee) & father Harihar (Kanu Banerjee) and their young daughter Durga (Runki Banerjee), probably between nine and eleven years old. We find out soon that mother is very strict, while father is sort of a lovable loser type. When Sarbajaya (as much of a main character as Apu) finds out that Durga has stolen fruit from the trees in their neighbors garden, she is scolded and made to return it and do chores as penance. The family's elderly aunt (known only as "Auntie" and played by Chunibala Devi) encourages Durga to be a child and doesn't mind when the girl steals fruit. Not once, but twice in the course of the movie, Sarbajaya kicks Auntie out of the home (she lives with them) for being to lenient with the children and general disagreements. Later, Apu is born and Durga now has a new running mate. The two are very childlike, playing in the rain, chasing after the sweets seller and running to get a glimpse at a passing train (the film's most famous scene, supposedly). Toward the middle of the film, Harihar leaves his family to try and get work in another village. While he is away, Durga catches cold and develops pneumonia and her illness takes a turn for the worse one stormy night.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Definitely nothing worth dreading here, but as seems to be the trend this season, it's yet another one of those movies that fives me a very *meh* attitude. I'm also left to question, as I have so many times before, what the big hubbub was. Was it merely the story that Satyajit Ray took three years to make the film, as he too came from poor and raising funds to make a movie was harder than it seemed? Or is the film itself? I have a hard time believing it's the latter, as the movie itself just isn't THAT special. It isn't bad, nor is it very good. It very much lingers in that middle ground, somewhere between mediocre and forgettable. The train scene that I'd heard about even before watching the film, was simply a scene where the children run to catch a glimpse at a passing train. I realize that they're poor children, pretty much confined to a single village and that seeing a passing locomotive was a big deal. I guess it was an okay scene, but to get the herald that it does is a little ridiculous, isn't it?

The other thing that keeps me from going gaga about this movie is the fact - and I've said this before - that we have children in the two main leads. I'm very anti-kid if you haven't already noticed and I find it very difficult to be taken away by movies starring kids. That whole "world of imagination" and "age of wonderment" thing just doesn't work on me and I'd much rather watch anything where adults are featured - call me close minded, if you will.

However, the film isn't all bad and actually, it's a perfectly fine film. Everything it does, though basic, is very fine filmmaking, It's just that I wouldn't go so far as to call anything on display here "must see". I can say that once Apu starts to grow up, the movies definitely have a potential to get better and in fact, I'd even go so far as to say I look forward to "The World of Apu". I'm also very much not dreading the watching of "Aparajito", as this movie chugged along quite nicely and the fact that I put these off for so long is already proving to be a pointless task. Pather Panchali has already gotten me somewhat attached to this group of characters and I have to say the death of Durga was a huge shocker, that I DID NOT expect! I'm a little more than slightly intrigued to see where things go from here and I can only hope we get into slightly more edgier territory, although as these were made in 1950s India, I'm guessing "edgy" wasn't the buzzword of the times.

RATING: 5/10  Strike it right down the middle and I'll hope things get progressively better with the Apu Trilogy. Expect the "Aparajito" review tomorrow sometime.

MOVIES WATCHED: 860
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 141

October 25, 2014  6:59pm