Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on September 07, 2008 at 17:05:38

about a young boy from a rural village whose family moves to Benares (a mid-sized city and religious center of India) when he is very young, partly to give him a chance to succeed in life and partly to escape the memory of a tragedy.
These are two films in the trilogy: I haven't been able to locate the last one but, rest assured, the first two rank among the greatest of cinematic achievement.
The first film was Ray's first, also, and the cinematographer never had worked a film camera before and many other principals also were amateurs, including most of the cast. A then unknown musician named Ravi Shankar provided the score.
Like an Ozu film, there is no point in describing the story, it is that of typical lives; what gives these films (and many other Ray films) their brilliance is the absolute naturalness, the peace at the center of the narrative even though the events may be horrific; the careful creation of a poetry of image, sound, and movement.