Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray is generally considered one of cinema’s greatest artists, but his most seminal achievement was nearly scarred beyond repair. The original negatives for the ‘Apu’ Trilogy were severely burned in a nitrate fire more than 20 years ago, all but killing any hope for future generations to see it in decent condition. But now that The Criterion Collection has given it a miraculous new 4K digital restoration (this AV Club interview on the painstaking restoration process is a must-read), the films will live on and even look as good as, if not better, than ever.
Ray is one of those directors whom most movie fans have probably read or heard about without necessarily having watched one of his films. Wes Anderson acolytes may recall the director’s effusive praise of Ray’s work during the press rounds for his 2007 “The Darjeeling Limited,” a film set in India that features many choice soundtrack cuts from past Ray films. Apu is a brilliant humanist brimming with empathy for those from all walks of life, while his elegant, deceptively simple style belies his highly cinematic yet subtly stylized approach to filmmaking. An insanely prolific multi-hyphenate who dabbled in many other artforms —eventually he would even score his movies— Ray’s films are timeless and thoroughly deserve to be discovered by a new generation of filmgoers for their universality and their vitality.
Now that his much-beloved and gorgeously restored ‘Apu’ Trilogy is in the early stages of a theatrical re-release (currently playing at Film Forum in New York and hitting other cities throughout the summer) and due later for a Blu-ray/DVD/streaming release from Criterion, there’s no better time to take this quick look at those films and three other essential works.
THE ‘APU’ TRILOGY
In the annals of movie nerd-dom, there are some unavoidable certainties, one of which is critics/fans arguing over the greatest or [insert mostly arbitrary descriptor here] movie of all time. But any list of greatest trilogies that leaves off Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apu’ films (“Pather Panchali,” “Aparajito” and “Apur Sansar”) is decidedly incomplete. Though not originally conceived as a trilogy, the three films nonetheless cohere into a grand coming-of-age epic, zeroing in on the titular Apu (played by four different actors as the story moves forward) and his poor rural family, like a spiritual antecedent to last year’s Oscar-winner “Boyhood.” But across three ‘Apu’ pictures, the story gets more breathing room as an even more complete picture of a life is built.
“Pather Panchali” aka “Song Of the Little Road” (1955)
A masterful debut film that shows Ray already in full control of the medium even while he was learning on the job, the first entry in the trilogy takes a patient, roundabout path to introducing its protagonist (arguably this and the sequel are as much the mother’s story as Apu’s). Much of its power comes from the way the film is mostly presented as a series of fleeting moments, capturing the natural ebb and flow of life. Then tragedy strikes, and the gut punches begin to take hold, though thankfully melodrama is avoided for the most part. Ray was a big fan of the neo-realist style of De Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves,” but he pushes it further into the cinematic realm here by peppering his realistic portrayal of Bengali life far outside the city limits with moments of utter poetry. The scene where Apu and his sister run after an oncoming train (the first hints of Apu’s blossoming desire to move outside his small world) is famous for a reason (you’ll know when you see it). And not enough can be said for sitar master Ravi Shankar’s evocative score, in what was also his film debut.