#64: Pather Panchali

Pather Panchali (Ray, 1955)

Pather Panchali is one of those films with very high artistic value and very low entertainment value. The first film from India to attain worldwide fame, it's a personal story of a poor family that can't find any success making money, but still tries to get by without sacrificing their ambitions and dignity. They're looked down upon by their neighbors because they can't pay back their debts and because the daughter of the family is a petty thief. The husband keeps finding tenuous employments that pay out for a while, but then stop paying out and disappear. He's forced to go far away with no communication for months trying to find money to bring back, and while he's gone the house is deteriorating and falling apart. In all this the son, Apu is born. The lesson he learns from living through all these family tragedies so early in life is that he should never get attached to anything, because he will only lose it.

The character development is subtle and beautiful, and the beauty of the film is how they react and cope as the tragic events of the plot unfold. The story telling style and the scenery are also beautiful. It's the sort of film any film buff should see once but probably won't want to see again.

Pather Panchali is the first part in a trilogy. I haven't seen the other two, but as it's known as the 'Apu Trilogy', I assume it details how Apu copes in later stages of his life after what he's gone through in his early childhood.

Rating: *** 1/2 / 5

53/101

New movies:

Air Doll: 4/10

Air Doll is a film by Kore-Eda, the same director who did Nobody Knows and Still Walking, about a blow up doll who comes to life. It sounds like the premise of a Rob Schneider flick, but it takes the approach of having the doll experience the world with the wonder of a child, but with the constant knowledge that everyone sees her as nothing but a 'Substitute' whose function is to bring pleasure. It could have worked, but some of the writing and plot twists are just plain silly. And since the bare premise is also just plain silly, but the tone of the movie is preachy and anti-modern, it all just comes off as stupid.