the portrait is a 1993 american made-for-television drama film adapted from the play painting churches , directed by arthur penn , and starring gregory peck and lauren bacall .

cecilia peck , who plays the daughter in the film , is the real-life daughter of actor gregory peck and his second wife veronique peck .

the film was broadcast on tnt on february 13 , 1993 .

the portrait ( 1993 film )

with the headline : reviews / film ; a revisionist portrait of an apache warrior .
n is a number : a portrait of paul erdos is a 1993 biographical documentary about the life of mathematician paul erdos , directed by george paul csicsery .
the portrait trailer 1993 director : arthur penn starring : cecilia peck , gregory peck , lauren bacall , paul mccrane , william prince , mitchell laurance official content from turner home entertainment the complicated relationships of an elderly couple and their daughter , an aspiring painter . cecilia is the real - life daughter of the great actor ! movie , the portrait movie , the portrait trailer , the portrait 1993 , arthur penn , cecilia peck , gregory peck , lauren bacall , paul mccrane , william prince , mitchell laurance
cast : circé lethem , julien rassam , joëlle marlier dir . chantal akerman , 1993 , 60 mins .
actually an american remake of the 1993 french film les visiteur . a french nobleman and his servant time travel from the 12th century and wind up in chicago in the ‘90s . christina applegate takes care of them ; it’s terrible .
in the 1993 film , the roles were played by hugo weaving ( tick / mitzi mitosis ) , guy pearce ( adam / felicia ) and terence stamp ( bernadette ) – so the lead cast have big , well , stilettos to fill .
‘the portrait’ ( 1993 ) is a poignant movie about the tie that binds – we love each other for who we are and not for who we are not . gregory peck , lauren bacall and cecilia peck star in this made - for - tv movie exploring the emotions that bond families together .
a riotous film that finds depth , clarity and refreshment in even the shallowest of pools .
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
barbra streisand in the movie funny girl - barbra streisand . film still from funny girl , 1968
based on the 1993 road movie starring terence stamp , hugo weaving and guy pearce , this south african production has all the glitz , all the glamour and all the laughs . we go behind the scenes to talk to the cast and crew
donald bogle , a film historian and author , said that the film remains fresh even today because , as he put it ,
america hasn ' t changed that much .
chantal akerman ' s 1993 film… is a beautiful and haunting evocation of female adolescence and its discontents desire , loss and the complicated , ambiguous relationship to the transitions between girlhood and womanhood . . . portrait of a young girl is in many ways a coming out story , for the love of one girl for another moves the film forward . . . but it will come as no surprise to those familiar with akerman ' s work that this is no transparent coming out tale , and that the film resists any of the simple oppositions between inside and outside , past and present , before and after , which are suggested by the very term ' coming out ' .
there are occasions when we are unsure of the identity of a sitter or artist , their life dates , occupation or have not recorded their family relationships . sometimes we have not recorded the date of a portrait . do you have specialist knowledge or a particular interest about any aspect of the portrait or sitter or artist that you can share with us ? we would welcome any information that adds to and enhances our information and understanding about a particular portrait , sitter or artist .
commissioned by channel 4 for visions strand , which offered film makers and artists a carte blanche .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
can you tell us more about this portrait ? spotted an error , information that is missing ( a sitter’s life dates , occupation or family relationships , or a date of portrait for example ) or do you know anything that we don ' t know ? if you have information to share please complete the form below .
by michael clark oil on card , 1993 17 3 / 4 in . x 13 1 / 8 in . ( 451 mm x 333 mm ) purchased , 1995 primary collection npg 6322
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are . see what’s now showing
the great beauty is an utterly ravishing portrait of listless luxuriance , a fantasy of decadent wealth and beauty that evokes fellini ' s la dolce vita by way of baz luhrmann .
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he said he was moved by the suffering , indignation and frustration of the characters in the film , adding that at the height of the drama television stations never failed to
stop the film and go to a commercial , to a woman worried about a ring around her sink and the concern of a woman about how clean her towels are .
like that film ,
bopha !
was shot on location in zimbabwe , and captures the beauty as well as the unhappiness of southern africa .
an interview with writer / director boots riley about his incendiary new film ,
sorry to bother you .
there was 1969 , when he was the youngest director to get a long - term contract for television work based on the strength of a short film .
alfre woodard , who struggles to preserve her family in the middle of the rising anarchy , is also very strong here , and the film ' s ending has some of the power of classical tragedy .
how can i rate it when all i got to see was a review ? i was not able to get to the actual film . disappointing
according to the legend of the 1943 philadelphia experiment , the us navy managed to render the uss eldridge invisible to enemy devices . but in the film , the alleged philadelphia experiment has a much stranger result : it catapults to of the sailors to the year 1984 , when scientists are trying to replicate the experiment .
after a long absence , artist margaret church returns to her aging parent’s home to finish a portrait of them . her parents , gardner and fanny church , unbeknownst to margaret have sold the family home and are moving .
if you like the adventure of priscilla , queen of the desert ( 1993 ) – an oscar - winning road movie that follows a trio of drag queens across the australian outback in a lavender - painted bus – chances are you will enjoy the musical that is stopping off in hong kong for almost a month starting on september 29 .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
the portrait was the last sanctioned by jarman and includes a quotation from lorca in mirror - writing . in translation this reads : ' enjoy the luscious landscape of my wound . . . but hurry ! . . . time meets us , and we are destroyed . '
he revolutionized special effects with “close encounters of the third kind” in 1977 and in 1982 created a new sort of kids’ film with “e . t . : the extra terrestrial . ”
i had some problems with the very end of the film . it seemed to me there should have been one more scene , explaining how the policeman arrives at his final destination . the sense was that the viewer was required to read his mind . perhaps that was the idea .
after a long absence , artist margaret church returns to her aging parent ' s home to finish a portrait of them . her parents , gardner and fanny church , unbeknownst to margaret have sold the . . . see full summary »
the main issue between the parents and mags seems to be the fact that mags has always resented her parents’ close relationship because she has always felt like the third wheel . fanny and gardner are always seen laughing and talking together . we see mags’ exasperation at their behavior during their portrait sitting . she has difficulty getting them to sit still and pose , which makes her think it’s because they don’t take her career choice seriously . i laughed when they held up a fork and teased her about their portrait being the next american gothic by grant wood .
' nothing but a man ' suggests what you can do with a subject if the humanity is the first consideration ,
said stanley crouch , the writer and cultural critic .
then all of the politics and everything else can function , but you don ' t think you ' re being beaten over the head with a message . the film is about manhood , about assuming adult responsibility , whatever the demands might be . the question of adult responsibility is not a racial question ; that ' s why the film speaks to people .
a powerful and intimate portrait , joan mitchell : portrait of an abstract painter captures mitchell ' s independent spirit and testifies eloquently to mitchell ' s art . one of the great abstract painters of the twentieth century , mitchell was an active participant of new york ' s dynamic abstract expressionist scene and hung out with fellow painters franz kline , willem de kooning and philip guston , as well as poets frank o ' hara , james schuyler and john ashbery . in the mid - fifties , she moved to paris , where she was part of a circle of friends that included pierre matisse , samuel beckett and alberto giacometti . this elegantly edited documentary weaves together interviews with the acerbic mitchell and other leading painters and critics , while letting her stunning pictures dominate the film .
many israelis complained that “munich” inappropriately put the palestinian terrorists and israeli mossad agents on the “same moral plane . ” spielberg even hired the services of an israeli advisor to try and turn israeli opinion on the film . i personally recall staying up late into the night at a bar arguing about this masterpiece with people who were both more right - wing and left - wing than i . ( consider me the ralph bunche of film critics that year . ) none of this is mentioned in the new documentary .
mags church ( cecilia peck ) is an artist who lacks confidence in her artistic abilities . when she is given the chance to exhibit some of her artwork in a small gallery with an excellent reputation , she decides to go back to her childhood home to recharge her creative batteries after a break - up and to finish a portrait of her parents ( fanny and gardner ) she had begun long ago and never finished . however , we quickly discover that the portrait is not the only thing left unresolved in the church household . there are many complex emotions and miscommunications lurking just beneath the surface of this seemingly happy little trio .
an italian socialite , depressed with the high life , seeks moving aesthetic expression . so heavily influenced by fellini is this film that i was tongue - in - cheek surprised that it was directed by paul sorrentino , the great beauty is neo - realism at its best . the beautiful shots of jep staring at the giraffe , the party sequences , the crazy artists who dye their pubic hair red and shave the hammer and sickle into it , the luxuriant shots of the eternal city - - all these threads create a hypnotic fabric for the film . toni servillo ' s jep embodies artistic ennui at its most pretentious and its most human , and the film ' s story is slight and subtle but still captivating . overall , this is not the
next step on fellini ' s road ,
but its a fitting homage .
as played by wes studi , who was so formidable and effective as magua in
the last of the mohicans ,
geronimo is more often made to seem gently perplexed than fierce . this is more a dramatic problem than a political one , since all the film ' s actors share a placid , reasonable demeanor that becomes unexpectedly dull . as the film recounts the last battles , in the 1880 ' s , between the chiricahua apache and the american and mexican soldiers who overwhelmingly outnumbered them , it adopts an attitude of undifferentiated regret . almost no one dares play the villain in the fight that destroyed the indians ' independence and altered their destiny .
bopha !
( which means to arrest or detain in zulu ) is based on a play by percy mtwa and is the first film directed by morgan freeman , whose acting career has included two oscar nominations (
street smart
and
driving miss daisy
) and who starred in
the power of one
( 1992 ) , a much more innocent film about south africa .
mr . roemer said that in researching the film , which was made for $ 230 , 000 , he was struck by the systematic destruction of the black family in the south . as a german jew who had watched as his father and others he respected were humiliated by the nazis , he said he could identify with the experience of american blacks .
the father of the time travel story himself , herbert george wells ( malcolm mcdowell ) is the hero of this film , in which he pursues jack the ripper to the year 1979 , like one does . the serial killer decides he quite likes the future and starts up his murders in san francisco . while wells works to stop the ripper , he also finds something in the future to love : a bank employee played by mary steenburgen .
( michael ) derek elworthy jarman ( 1942 - 1994 ) , film - maker , painter , stage designer , gardener and campaigner for gay rights . sitter in 16 portraits .
what transforms the musical into a glamorous spectacle are the lights , colours , energy and , of course , those tunes . as in the film , priscilla features an array of iconic drag - friendly pop songs spanning three decades including gloria gaynor’s i will survive and it’s raining men by the weather girls .
also in the film , and showing some of its few signs of life , is robert duvall as one of the story ' s maverick characters , a veteran indian scout named al sieber . sieber sometimes voices a healthy skepticism that would have been welcome elsewhere in the story .
if the baby , so to speak , is geronimo ' s dauntless fighting spirit , it has been thrown out with the bath water of outmoded film stereotypes regarding american indians . shooting evocatively amid utah landscapes that summon john ford ' s westerns , mr . hill finds ample opportunities to settle old scores . the contempt and condescension with which indian warriors were so often treated has given way to a warm bath of noble sentiments , none of which advances this film ' s dramatic purposes at all .
with all this land , why is there no room for the apache ?
asks geronimo , on one of the many occasions when the film ' s characters seem to speak their lines in capital letters .
why does the white - eye want all land ?
commissioned by amnesty international as part of a portmanteau project to highlight the fate of the murdered , the detained and the tortured .
throughout the film , sorrentino delivers gorgeous images , crazy images , startling and sexy and serene images ; it ' s a visual bath of sorts - the great beauty is everywhere , jep ( and we ) just have to be open to it .
( eternal flame ) in a synagogue . he was raised in a deeply religious family , denied his faith , then ultimately became one of its most important chroniclers thanks to the love of an outsider . sounds like something out of the movies ? well , it is , and it’s one of the many fascinating narrative threads in hbo’s october 7 ( lengthy ) portrait , “spielberg . ”
mr . young , who was also the cinematographer , said the impetus for making the film came after nbc had refused to broadcast a documentary he and mr . roemer had made on a slum in sicily because , in his words ,
they thought it was too powerful for an american audience .
determined , he said , to make a
meaningful film that no one could take away from us ,
the two men , who are white , set out for the south . mr . young had been there earlier when he was making a documentary for the network on the sit - in demonstrations of the civil rights movement .
after a long absence , artist margaret church returns to her aging parent ' s home to finish a portrait of them . her parents , gardner and fanny church , unbeknownst to margaret have sold the family home and are moving . while coming to grips with the loss of her childhood home and the memories it held , margaret must deal with many issues ranging from her father ' s frequent and disturbing memory lapses , to her feelings of isolation from her parents . fanny and gardner are totally devoted to each other and absorbed in their love and life together , making their daughter feel left out . while struggling to get her parents to sit still long enough to paint their portrait , margaret thinks they don ' t take her or her painting seriously . a conversation with her father makes margaret finally come to the realization that her parents love her , appreciate her painting career and that they can ' t and won ' t change at their ages . returning to ny for her premier art showing with the finished portrait , margaret . . .
the problems the film addresses still go on ,
said mr . bogle , whose most recent book is
blacks in american film and television : an encyclopedia
( garland , 1988 ) .
a black man still has to struggle to be a man the way he would define it . we still live in a world where we constantly find ourselves struggling against attitudes and misconceptions and insensitivities . so ' nothing but a man ' doesn ' t seem old at all .
based on the french short film la jetée , terry gilliam’s super dark dystopia is set in the 2030s , where humanity has all been almost wiped out . their only hope is to jettison future prisoners on possibly suicide missions back to the 1990s in hoping of stopping the plague that took out most of the world’s population . also , almost everyone is just a little bit crazy .
louise bourgeois : the spider , the mistress and the tangerine is a cinematic journey inside the life and imagination of an icon of modern art .
when
nothing but a man
was first shown , in 1964 , it was credited with creating a new sensitivity in its presentation of black life in the american south . now , nearly 30 years later , the film has again been released to theaters in the hope that it can speak to a new generation .
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we stayed with black families in their houses , going from family to family , in places where no white people had ever been as we wrote the story ,
mr . young said .
we wanted to take people into these homes where we had been so that all people , black and white , could experience black people as people . i remember in 1964 when we were showing our film , white people were surprised because they had never seen a black woman sitting on a black guy ' s lap . or they were surprised when he lovingly put a piece of pie in her mouth or when they were in the bedroom . of course , we are all the same , and that ' s what we were trying to make the film about .
film maker uses his memories
spielberg’s career was building to 1993 . that summer he released “jurassic park , ” which some consider as good as “jaws . ” ( i don’t , but it’s close . i mean , richard dreyfus vs . jeff goldblum is pretty evenly matched . ) it was a major success but also a step forward in the use of digital technology . “jurassic park” represented advances in spielberg’s popcorn side , but that december — building on some of his more serious work like “the color purple” and “empire of the sun” — he released “schindler’s list . ”
things get worse . fanny and gardner won ' t sit still for their portrait - making it clear they don ' t take mags ' career seriously . frustrated and furious , mags is already packed when gardner ' s disappearance changes the family picture forever . directed by arthur penn , three - time best director oscar nominee for the miracle worker , 1962 ; bonnie and clyde , 1967 ; and alice ' s restaurant , 1969 .
actor liam neeson describes the near manic drive spielberg had on that set . he did not work from storyboards and oftentimes hand - held the camera himself . ( most movie directors don’t do this . ) spielberg , who had so defined himself with clever shots and studio trickery threw all those techniques away and shot many sequences in the film as if it were a documentary .
revel in the art of the craft and in the occasional sublime monologue to stave off the feeling that maybe this whole thing is entirely as hollow as so many of the characters on display . full review later .
a cinematic tour through the effects of the technological revolution , specifically the invention of aviation , the creation of cinema and their interdependent influence on artists pablo picasso and georges braque .
“many musicals made today are what we call the jukebox musical , ” says anton luitingh , the resident director of the touring production .
“i can still see the big picture – it’s the little details that confound me . ”
these movies ( and others ) represented a string of popular successes that had never been matched , and perhaps never will be . but some critics suggested that spielberg was a whiz with “film grammar” ( a snooty phrase meaning “where to put the camera” and “when to cut” ) but dealt only in surface and sentimentality .
go behind the scenes of the mission : impossible movies , check out the latest videos and trailers , and see which spy movies topped the box office in our mission : impossible guide .
; a concrete cast of the inside of a victorian terraced house in east london . controversy was caused by the work itself , by it winning the turner prize , and by the decision of tower hamlets council to demolish the sculpture .
in 2005 spielberg and jewish - american writer tony kushner collaborated on “munich , ” which is half action - adventure film , half essay about the futility of vengeance . its subject is the aftermath of the 1972 terrorist attack against the israeli olympic team by the palestinian group black september . in “spielberg , ” this notch on the director’s resume gets significant attention for its brilliant use of blocking , editing and tension , but also points to an increasing ambivalence spielberg had about the post - 9 / 11 war on terror . ( you can examine that further in 2002’s “minority report , ” 2005’s “war of the worlds” and even 2015’s “bridge of spies . ” )
after a nigh catastrophic shoot ( the shark didn’t work ! ) his masterpiece “jaws” radically changed the business side of the movie business in 1975 .
for all the crying the time travel aspect , this movie was both intriguing and had an enticing bit of time travel on the water planet . it also uses the long and arduous time gap between earth and the wormhole world quite beautifully .
we’re convinced that the only reason that will smith’s agent j goes back in time to stop an alien from killing a young agent k in the third men in black movie is because someone realized that josh brolin does a brilliant tommy lee jones impression and just had to commit it to film . it certainly wasn’t because they had a stockpile of great time - travel jokes lying around .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
america just before and during the civil war , as seen through the eyes of an artist correspondent .
david dennis’ bernadette gives off an air of grace even in the most outrageous costumes . the award - winning shakespearean actor was approached by the creative team to audition for the role and is returning to the stage after a decade’s hiatus to act on screen .
the sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain ' s self - destructive obsession to hunt the white whale , moby dick .
mags church ( cecilia peck , torn apart ) is an aspiring artist about to get her first manhattan gallery showing . but she needs to return home and complete an unfinished portrait of her parents , fanny ( bacall , to have and have not ) and gardner ( peck , academy award winner , best actor , to kill a mockingbird , 1962 ) . their lifelong - strained relationship surfaces when mags finds her parents have sold their house without telling her !
obviously , times have changed . the revisionist view of geronimo is apparent in
geronimo : an american legend ,
an earnest , leaden epic directed by walter hill from a reverential screenplay by john milius and larry gross . no matter that this film ' s narrator is actually britton davis , played as a bland young west point graduate by matt damon and urging the story forward with colorless observations . the real flavor of davis ' s account , and of the ferocity that earned geronimo his place in history , is nowhere evident on screen .
aurore clément is welcoming , above all eager to get chantal ' s help with a rehearsing for her part in another film . the battle to pronounce ' cheated ' without the inevitable mispronouncing of a french speaker takes up all their energy . her american companion , an actress , complains bitterly about the casting process , usually a matter of intimate meetings late at night . meanwhile word is received : chantal ' s uncle has gone to new york . like alice , chantal must chase her white rabbit .
this award - winning documentary recounts the remarkable life of john g . morris , the revered life magazine photo - journalist who was involved in the d - day normandy landings .
czechoslovakia is divided into two countries : the slovak republic ( slovakia ) and the czech republic . the division was peaceful and democratic and so became known as the ' velvet divorce ' , recalling the ' velvet revolution ' of 1989 by which communism in czechoslovakia was overthrown through peaceful mass demonstrations .
i am so happy i grew up seeing gregory peck and lauren bacall throughout their careers . this is a wonderful family film with warmth and some comedy . i believe this was the last movie gregory peck made before he passed away . what a loss to all who loved talented respectful actors we don ' t really see anymore on the screen or television . lauren bacall is one of the most talented actresses that does great work with any part she is to play . enjoy and add this movie to your library .
“the songs are chosen to make us remember a time or a feeling , ” says the play’s music director bryan schimmel .
marty and the doc reteam to go back to the future where everything is nike , pizza hut , pepsi cola awesome .
in his short career , jean - michel basquiat was a phenomenon . he became notorious for his graffiti art under the moniker samo in the late 1970s on the lower east side scene .
this video is special to my sister debi and me because we both were extras in the movie . one segment of the movie was shot in the north carolina governor ' s mansion . my late father mr . james otis blount also had a role as an extra . he played the role of the cab driver .
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a corporate raider threatens a hostile take - over of a
mom and pop
company . the patriarch of the company enlists the help of his wife ' s daughter , who is a lawyer , to try and protect the . . . see full summary »
see today ' s front and back pages , download the newspaper , order back issues and use the historic daily express newspaper archive .
the ica cinema is now completely ad - free . please note the feature will start following a selection of trailers and information relevant to the ica programme . all films are 18 + unless otherwise stated .
directed by michael roemer and written and produced by mr . roemer and robert young , the independent production stars ivan dixon and abbey lincoln in the story of a young black laborer in the south who falls in love with and marries the daughter of a preacher . the movie follows him as he struggles to affirm his worth in the face of relentless racial prejudice and his own emotional conflicts . currently playing at the harlem victoria five theater , 233 west 125th street ,
nothing but a man
is scheduled to open in los angeles and chicago later this month and elsewhere in the country later in the year .
rather , this explores how lesbian desire is both shaped and repressed by the codes and conventions of heterosexual romance . on the surface , the could be described as a somewhat conventional girl - meets - boy tale . but what shapes the girl - meets - boy story is the simultaneous desire , for the girl , to connect to another girl and to tell stories . ln other words , this is a lesbian narrative with a difference ; girl still meets boy , but that classical and timeworn plot is the pretext for the connection between two girls .
bacall and peck are absolutely wonderful together . what i enjoyed most about this movie was seeing this couple who was still crazy in love despite their age . in a world where so many marriages end in divorce , it was refreshing to see two people who could make it work and keep things interesting and fun after so many years . it was a beautifully honest portrait of a happy marriage and two people who truly cared about one another . for example , they kid around about sick people they know and how much money she spent on a fancy french designer hat she found in a thrift shop . it was the type of relationship and marriage i’ve always wanted for myself .
another highlight of the show will have to be the 500 - plus outlandish costumes , including the iconic flip - flop sheath dress , designed by tim chappel and lizzy gardiner , who won an academy award and a bafta for best costume design . they also took home tony awards in 2011 , when they recreated the costumes for the broadway production .
the great beauty is an alleged condemnation of the decadence of rome and its high society , but inasmuch as it approaches coherence at all .
set in the future where time travel is outlawed , but still used by the mob . a looper is a hit man in the past who waits for future bosses to send back whomever they want to kill . but the looper’s job is a short one as they all eventually end up “closing their own loop” and killing their future selves to keep things tidy for the people in charge . but eventually one gets away , and it’s up to the younger version of the target to hunt him down .
the conservative party is attacked in the media for ' sleaze ' . two mp ' s resign over sex scandals , two over the ' cash - for - questions affair ' , and one dies in bizarre and embarrassing circumstances . journalist max clifford was responsible for exposing many of the scandals .
in one of the most poignant scenes , mags and her mother bond over the seriousness of the situation . fanny explains to mags that she felt something physical when she married gardner , saying that the emptiness she had always felt as a child was finally filled . she was a happy child , but she became an even happier adult . i almost cried when she explained that she could still look across the room and marvel at the fact that he married her out of all the women he could have possibly chosen .
if you check the
remember me
box , you will be automatically signed in for 30 days to urltoken when you visit in the future .
the dialogue (
it is good to see the great warrior
) does not seem any weightier by virtue of its having been translated into the apache language in some places . the scenery is automatically vivid , especially when it takes advantage of the landscape ' s stark contrasts , but lloyd ahern ' s cinematography is sometimes suffused with dusty reddish tones . even the musical score by the resourceful ry cooder has a droning , authentic quality , suggesting that earnestness has taken precedence over energy . it has , every time .
jean - claude van damme is a member of the future time traveling crime fighting organization time enforcement commission ( tec ) . at one point he does the splits in his kitchen to avoid getting shot at . the end .
it’s the future and all the animals are dead . meanwhile , rich people get their kicks traveling back in time to kill a real - life dinosaur . the tour group that runs the show picks a specific t - rex that is going to die anyway ( so as not to disturb the future ) , but on one trip back a guest steps on a butterfly , thus changing the future into what could only be described as a jumanji world .
then there is trouble . the local students strike against a government decree that they be taught in afrikaans instead of english . both are european tongues , but afrikaans is spoken only in south africa , while english seems to them the language of the winds of change from outside , the language of freedom .
a gigantic , human - hating killing machine is sent back in time to kill the woman who will one day give birth to the savior of humanity in the future human vs . robot wars . don’t worry , the humans send back their own warrior , michael biehn , for sexy times and fighting .
mangena gets orders from his boss to raid a secret protest meeting they ' ve heard about - a fairly innocent meeting , they ' re sure .
use minimum force ,
the white man says . the raid goes as planned , and the area would probably have remained relatively tranquil , but a few days later new faces appear in the district : de villiers ( malcolm mcdowell ) , the hard - line officer from the special branch , and his thuggish assistant . they insist on extreme measures , eventually involving torture and death , to put down the protests . and then the black policeman ' s whole world comes crashing down around his ears . for his son is one of the protesters .
from the new york times . you may opt - out at any time .
“he had the entire weight of his tribe on him , ” neeson recalls .
with the release of yet another time travel movie this week ( terminator genisys ) , it’s time for us to look back at the great time travel movies of our past . here are all the major time travel movies ever , ranked .
a complicated and very messy look into time travel . the premise is simple : two friends build a time machine . but the result is infinitely more complicated .
a young man discovers that he belongs to a family of time travelers . and while this seems pretty simplistic , the way in which this drama / romantic comedy uses the time paradox is pretty great . as the character gets older , there are certain times in existence he cannot cross or he will forever change the his own future . for example , crossing past the birth of your child might mean you come back to the present and discover you have an entirely new child .
and plenty of humour , too . filled with sassy lines , foul language and offensive jokes , the show had audiences in johannesburg howling with laughter throughout the performance .
biopic of general douglas macarthur covering his war exploits during ww2 and the korean war .
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first adapted for stage in 2006 by the original director , stephen elliott and co - author of the musical’s script ( known as the book ) , allan scott , this production comes from south africa , where it ran between april and june this year .
a 14th - century boy believes he can save his fellow townsfolk by tunneling into the earth . when they emerge on the other side , the ancient people have been transported to 1988 new zealand . naturally , they lose their shit . it’s so great .
four friends get drunk in a hot tub in their old ski resort high school stomping grounds . the next day they wake up in the bodies of their old selves back in the ‘80s . and they take advantage of this in really wonderfully horrific ways .
a chronicle of the work and times of an american artist , taking us from searing images of interrogations and torture to the ironies and dark humor of old - age .
director susan lacy ( an executive behind 80 + pbs “american masters” specials ) frames her film with a quote from spielberg about his life - altering screening of “lawrence of arabia” as a young man . he recognized that movies weren’t just about story , they were about themes . this revelation allows lacy room to use interview footage and clips to riff on recurring topics . it doesn’t lead to any grand epiphany , but there are enough “ah , would you look at that” moments to keep things interesting .
critics have said that unlike other movies about blacks made at the time ,
nothing but a man
avoided the conventional pitfalls of sentimentality , preachiness and demeaning stereotypes and instead presented its characters with the full range of human qualities . humanity first , then messages
“i love the story , particularly the relevance with the world we live in today . i’m tired of paying lip service to gender and racial equality . we as creative people . . . can change notions and perceptions , it’s our job to do that , ” says dennis , who sees the role as an opportunity to fight prejudice against sexual minorities .
in a twist , an ape from the planet of the apes future is sent back in time to the human world . it does not go well . ( planet of the apes could also be included here if we want to but we thought this was more time - traveling back in time being aware of it so we chose to highlight escape . )
possibly the best plot premise ever created . rich people from the future are kidnapping folks from the past ( right at their moment of death ) to harvest their bodies for themselves . race car driver emilio estevez is taken and escapes his future captors . but now he has to survive in the future world . also , mick jagger is in this movie .
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a heroic guerilla group fights back against impossible odds during the 1941 nazi invasion of russia .
an interview with terry gilliam , director of
the man who killed don quixote .
“nobody’s safe , nobody is free from ridicule . but that’s all it’s about , ” says luitingh . “you wouldn’t be able to find a platform out of the theatre and say these things . but when you’re in the magic of the theatre space , anything goes . ”
the role of tick went to daniel buys , who took hints from his drag queen friends on how to craft his persona , mitzi . “i watch them with closer scrutiny and try to understand and see all the nuances they bring to their performance – the gentle hands and eyes , the subtle looks and even how they shape their mouths , ” says buys .
funny and sad , poignant and profound , elegant and elegiac , ambitious and ambiguous , the great beauty is one of the most utterly enjoyable movies i ' ve seen in years .
the less exciting sequel to bill & ted’s excellent adventure where ted and bill are murdered .
us president barack obama presents the presidential medal of freedom to movie director steven spielberg at the white house , washington , dc , november 24 , 2015 . ( afp / nicholas kamm )
after i recovered from initial
hey , this is just fellini in color
i realized that fellini is fellini because he ' s italian , as is sorrentino and there is just no escaping the beauty that is rome . that said , this is a profound look at what early success means in the arts , especially the literary arts : can you ever top it ? can you ever see the world fresh , or is it always through the glasses of the previous work that made you ? or , as the character himself says ,
i was waiting for the great beauty
and in the meantime i decided to have a party , i guess . i especially liked the mysterious man upstairs who ( spoiler alert ) turns out to be a high class crook , but who cried out as he is being taken away ,
i work hard so bums like you can just party
or something like that . it ' s an interesting take on how the money manipulation crowd sees artists . only nit - pick : i could have used a smaller dose of the nun / saint . i want to see it again .
this screening of shorts is part of the continuing chantal akerman retrospective presented by a nos amours .
in addition to changing costumes , the performers also have to frequently switch in and out of drag , and to reveal an industry trick , they are in fact masks the actors put on .
“they are all based on one famous singer’s songs . . . or a combination of pop songs , hence the jukebox reference . very often they fall flat because they rely heavily on the music .
a south african political prisoner is tortured to obtain information on apartheid conspirators . ten years later , the head officer in charge of the questioning is similarly held as prisoner . . . see full summary »
i was looking for the great beauty , but . . . i didn ' t find it !
wonderful franchise back to the future runs out of ideas and decides , “fuck it , let’s just make a western . ” and it’s almost worth it just for the zz top old - timey band .
all movies that bring people back in time to fictional realms of the past are all equally terrible .
adrien brody plays a struggling veteran who is mistakenly blamed for a murder and imprisoned in a mental hospital where the doctor runs odd experiments on him by tying him up in a jacket and locking him in a morgue shelf . imprisoned in the jacket , brody begins to travel to the future… or does he ?
once the father returns home from the hospital , mags has a heart - to - heart with him . i think it helps that this is a real - life father and daughter on the screen , as it makes the emotions seem more genuine . mags asks what her father thinks about her art and he tells her that he believes she is on the verge of finding herself and that crazy courage we all need to invade our privacy if we’re going to hold nothing back in our work . she seems pleased with this answer . the movie ends at her art show in new york and her parents coming to support her .
this was a treat . . . . loved the movie , and would love to see it again !
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also quite a daunting role is that of adam , portrayed by phillip schnetler . he won the role as he has a decade of experience as an acrobat and hence the flexibility and strength required of his character .
a remake of the original time machine movie , and while it’s not bad… it’s not very good either .
journalist jep gambardella ( the dazzling toni servillo , il divo and gomorrah ) has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of rome for decades . since the legendary success of his one and only novel , he has been a permanent fixture in the city ' s literary and social circles , but when his sixty - fifth birthday coincides with a shock from the past , jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life , turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries , and looking past the extravagant nightclubs , parties , and cafés to find rome in all its glory : a timeless landscape of absurd , exquisite beauty . ( c ) janus
a modern aircraft carrier goes back in time to 1941 , just hours before the japanese attack on pearl harbor . what do you think happens next ? update : apologies sorry this wasn’t on the first list , added !
he is a proud south african police sergeant , the second generation in the job , and he wants his son to follow him onto the force . in classes for new cadets , he tells them they ' ll be called
pig ,
and then he explains that the word ' s initials stand for pride , integrity , and guts and glory . he is good at his job and believes in it . and he is black .
barbra streisand turns 75 - we look back at the singers fabulous career from broadway shows to sell out concerts .
in “spielberg , ” the director ( and his sisters ) explain how he was ashamed of being in the only jewish family in their phoenix , arizona , suburb . it wasn’t part of the american dream vision he had of himself . he recalls when his russian - jewish grandfather shouted for him across the street using his hebrew name shmuel , and how the other kids teased him . it was after his marriage to capshaw that he decided to finally make “schindler’s list” and that experience made him , as he puts it , “so proud to be a jew . ”


sukumar ray is a 1987 bengali short documentary film made by satyajit ray on his father , sukumar ray .

it was released during the birth centenary year of sukumar ray , who was born on 30 october 1887 .

the thirty minutes documentary features the life and some of the works by sukumar ray in the form of paintings , photographs and readings .

this is the last documentary made by satyajit ray as a tribute to his father , before he died in 1992 .

the documentary used sukumar ray 's photographs and paintings than video recording as the film was considerably a new medium in india when sukumar ray died in 1923 .

sukumar ray ( film )

the film presents the life and work of the writer sukumar ray , satyajit ray ' s father . ray made this film as a tribute to celebrate the centenary of his birth . the film comprises still photographs and readings from sukumar ray ' s writings .
the life and work of the writer sukumar ray , satyajit ray ' s father . ray made this film as a tribute to celebrate the centenary of his birth . the film comprises still photographs and readings from sukumar ray ' s writings .
documentary by satyajit ray on his father sukumar ray and his work – including dramatisations of sequences from his writings .
sukumar ray , upendrakishore’s son and father of satyajit , was a pioneering bengali writer of nonsense rhyme and children’s literature , an illustrator and a critic . ray was born to sukumar and suprabha ray in calcutta .
however , she turns out to be his friend sukumar ' s younger sister .
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ray received 32 national film awards by the government of india , and awards at international film festivals .
chaudhuri , sukanta ( ed . and trans . ) , the select nonsense of sukumar ray ( calcutta : oxford university press , 1987 )
one of my close friends , who is a respected author , never travels without carrying a volume of sukumar ray’s complete works with him .
born in 1887 , sukumar ray was the father of the famous indian film director , satyajit ray . sukumar ' s father , upendrakisore , had set up his own printing press in his house in calcutta and wrote a number of articles on printing for the british printing journal , the penrose annual , from 1897 to 1912 .
robinson , andrew , ' selected letters of sukumar ray ' , south asia research 7 . 2 ( nov . 1987 ) , pp . 169 - 236
with an ensemble cast , this film had ray ' s first original screenplay .
sukumar ray was made a fellow of the royal photographic society in 1922 . he was famous for his humourous ' literary nonsense ' and was also a story - writer and illustrator .
( who even made a film about sukumar in 1987 - - i haven ' t seen it ) . ray spent some time in england , where he studied printing technology , which enabled him to make some beautiful illustrations for his books [
, and i came across sukumar ray , a highly prolific writer of surrealist children ' s stories in the 1910s and 20s . he was part of the presidency college circle of bengali intellectuals in calcutta , and he was the father of acclaimed film maker
ray is the second film personality after chaplin to have been awarded honorary doctorates by oxford university .
satyajit ray had won the maximum number of the coveted national film awards ( the indian version of the oscars ) . he won 32 national film awards .
this 1969 - film based on a short story by ray’s grandfather upendrakishore ray chowdhury has goopy and bagha , two yokels , as its protagonists .
sukumar ray ( 1887 - 1923 ) , the eldest son of upendra kishore , studied printing technology in england and joined the family business . he was an eminent poet , writer and illustrator of nonsense literature in the tradition of lewis carroll and edward lear . sukumar ray fell ill the year satyajit ray was born with a dreaded tropical disease of the time - kala - azar . he regularly contributed poems , stories and illustrations to ' sandesh ' , a children ' s magazine in bengali which satyajit ray ' s grandfather had started publishing and printing .
on satyajit ray ' s 93rd birth anniversary , his son sandip ray discusses his favourite movies .
in this 1962 film ray made brilliant use of fog as the protagonist to portray the complexities of human relationships .
the legend first stepped into this world on 2 nd may 1921 . art was in his blood ; his father sukumar roy , grandfather upendra kishore roy choudhury are stars of bengali literature . sukumar ray first introduced nonsense verse in indian literature . he inherited the talent from his family . having a rich cultural atmosphere , paved his way to becoming the godfather of indian cinema . in 1955 he debuted with his first film pather panchali ( the tale of a little road ) . the trajectory of indian cinema changed afterward .
however , on this day , they had a disagreement . two bengali films had released , the latest suchitra sen starrer and the first film directed by a former advertising executive and illustrator . nihar was determined to watch the suchitra sen film while my father was committed to watching the other one . “it’s directed by sukumar ray’s son , ” he explained . “and it’s based on one of the classics of bengali literature . this film could be interesting . ”
audiences are also discovering the lesser known ray films including chiriakhana and kapurush mahapurush . ray & apos ; s documentaries on tagore and his father , poet and writer sukumar ray , have drawn a niche crowd . ray & apos ; s children & apos ; s films such as sonar kella , joy baba felunath , goopy gyne bagha byne and hirak rajar deshe have already attracted healthy box office bookings for september .
many literary works include references to ray or his work , including saul bellow’s herzog and j . m . coetzee’s youth . salman rushdie’s haroun and the sea of stories contains fish characters named goopy and bagha , a tribute to ray’s fantasy film . in 1993 , uc santa cruz established the satyajit ray film and study collection , and in 1995 , the government of india set up satyajit ray film and television institute for studies related to film . in 2007 , british broadcasting corporation declared that two feluda stories would be made into radio programs . [ 91 ] during the london film festival , a regular “satyajit ray award” is given to a first - time feature director whose film best captures “the artistry , compassion and humanity of ray’s vision” . wes anderson has claimed ray as an influence on his work ; his 2007 film , the darjeeling limited , set in india , is dedicated to ray .
in 1947 , with some film - enthusiast friends , he set up the calcutta film society , the first film club of its kind in india , dedicated to watching and discussing the best of world cinema .
even though i am in my 30s i love reading sukumar ray . his work appeals to all ages . though i don ' t think his works can be translated that easily . it is so much fun to read his original works in bengali than in english .
ray could now become a full - time film director . he started work on pather panchali’s sequel aparajito ( the unvanquished ) , which is the finest—and most heart - rending—film of the apu trilogy .
upendra kishore’s sons and daughters were all gifted writers and / or painters . the eldest son , sukumar , was a genius by any benchmark one can set . the stories and poems he wrote for children—of all ages—are quite simply unparalleled for their humour , imagination and the spirit of absurd whimsy . there is not a single bengali who has maintained some contact with his culture who cannot recite at least a few lines from one of sukumar’s poems .
clicking on the title of a film will take you to details such as cast , story , comments , awards , etc . for that film .
ray , satyajit ( 1921 - 1992 ) oscar winning film director , photographer , painter , writer of juvenile literature and musicologist . satyajit ray was born in kolkata on 2 may 1921 . his parents hailed from the village masua of kishoreganj district of bangladesh . his father , sukumar ray , a noted writer , editor and photographer , graduated from manchester university school of technology and was a fellow of the royal photographic society of great britain . his mother , suprova ray , was a singer and earned repute for her skills in handicrafts . his grandfather , upendrakishore ray chowdhury , was a well - known litterateur , painter , photographer , block designer and editor of the juvenile journal sandesh ( 1913 ) . satyajit ' s wife bijoya ray was a musicologist and a film actress . his son swandip ray is a noted photographer , graphic artist and a film director .
ray was , without knowing it , the first “graphic designer” in india . what milton glaser was doing in the us , ray was doing at signet press . he even designed two english typefaces : ray roman and ray bizarre .
hello ginsoakedboy , majantali sarkar was not from sukumar ray but upendrakishore . see this link : urltoken ; = utf - 8 & oe ; = utf - 8 & aq ; = t & rls ; = org . mozilla : en - us : official & client ; = firefox - a
) , a tragic love triangle set within a wealthy , western - influenced bengali family in 1879 , is perhaps ray’s most accomplished film .
ray , satyajit . the apu trilogy : pather panchali , aparajito , apur sansar . [ film scripts ] calcutta : seagull books , 1985 .
ray’s international career started in earnest after the success of his next film , aparajito ( the unvanquished ) . this film shows the eternal struggle between the ambitions of a young man , apu , and the mother who loves him . critics such as mrinal sen and ritwik ghatak rank it higher than ray’s first film . aparajito won the golden lion at the venice film festival , bringing ray considerable acclaim . before completing the apu trilogy , ray directed and released two other films : the comic parash pathar ( the philosopher’s stone ) , and jalsaghar ( the music room ) , a film about the decadence of the zamindars , considered one of his most important works .
ray had long been a fan of the 1916 novel the home and the world , by the nobel prize–winning bengali writer rabindranath tagore . in 1948 , seven years before pather panchali saw the light of a projector , he and his friend and fellow film lover harisadhan dasgupta were planning a film adaptation of tagore’s book . after dasgupta bought the rights to the book ( for a hefty sum ) from the author’s estate , ray summarily wrote a script . the pair then found a producer in a friend from the calcutta film society , which ray had cofounded ; hired an art director ; and even began scouting locations . tagore occupied a special place in ray’s heart , as not only had he been a close friend of ray’s father , sukumar , but he had founded the visva - bharati university in santiniketan , which had helped define ray’s artistic identity when he studied there .
sukumar ray arrived in england in the autumn of 1911 and initially lodged with the northbrook society at 21 cromwell road . he studied printing at the london school of photo engraving and lithography in bolt street , run by london county council , and then went to manchester and studied at the manchester school of technology . in manchester , he wrote letters to his parents from 12 thorncliffe grove and then 65 ducie grove . ray was present in london when rabindranath tagore visited the city in 1912 ; tagore was a friend of his father ' s in calcutta . he often visited the house of dr and mrs p . k . ray in london to eat indian food and meet other indians in london . at p . k . ray ' s house , sukumar ray met k . g . gupta and later married his niece .
international bangla film critic award 2012 : best personality in 100 years of indian cinema .
the crew was under no permanent contract or organisation . and yet , the crew members and actors always made themselves available for his films . it was partly due to this obligation that ray moved from one film to another rapidly , making about one film a year .
in 1950 , d . j . keymer sent ray to london to work at its headquarters office . during his three months in london , ray watched 99 films . among these was the neorealist film ladri di biciclette ( bicycle thief ) ( 1948 ) by vittorio de sica , which had a profound impact on him . ray later said that he came out of the theater determined to become a film - maker .
at the venice film festival , where he had previously won a golden lion for aparajito ( 1956 ) , he was awarded the golden lion honorary award in 1982 . that same year , he received an honorary “hommage à satyajit ray” award at the 1982 cannes film festival .
unfortunately , u . ray & sons was also going bankrupt , in spite of the best efforts of sukumar’s brother subinay , another gifted writer . the company changed hands , the palatial house the family used to live in was sold , and satyajit was brought up by his mother at her brother’s home , contributing to the household expenses by teaching needlework in a widows’ home .
while working in london , ray feasted on films ( he finally got to watch renoir’s la regle du jeu , which he rated as one of the best films ever made ) . and then one day , he watched the italian film the bicycle thief ( or thieves ; strangely enough , the film goes by both names—ray refers to it in his writings as both thief and thieves ) directed by vittorio de sica . the film changed his life .
s atyajit ray was born into an illustrious family in calcutta in 1921 . his grandfather , upendra kishore ray - chaudhary , was a publisher , musician and the creator of children’s literature in bengali . his father , sukumar ray , was a noted satirist and india ' s first writer of nonsense rhymes , akin to the nonsense verse of edward lear . later in life , satyajit ray made a documentary of his father ' s life . his film , goopy gyne bagha byne , was based on a story published by his grandfather in 1914 , but even other films , such as hirok rajah deshe ,
the kingdom of diamonds
, clearly drew upon his interest in children’s poetry and nonsense rhymes .
satyajit ray was born in 1921 in a bengali brahmo family that boasted almost incredible amounts of talent . his grandfather upendra kishore ray chaudhuri was as much a renaissance man as his close friend rabindranath tagore . straddling the worlds of science and arts , he was a printing technologist and inventor , an extremely gifted painter and violinist , and possibly the greatest children’s writer bengal has ever produced ( the only competition comes from his son sukumar , satyajit’s father ) .
ray wrote the script and approached a few producers . he knew no one in the bengali film industry and they were cold calls . fortunately for him , bibhutibhushan’s widow , rama , was impressed by the passionate young man ( his genealogy helped ) , and agreed to give the film rights to the novel to him , as and when he raised the money to fund the film . in fact , one rich producer whom ray approached , reneged and contacted her , saying he would buy the rights and make the film , to be directed by the then famous bengali director debaki bose , but rama steadfastly refused . she had placed her faith on ray for making a film that would do justice to her late husband’s greatest work .
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are . see what’s now showing
the film portrays the hopelessness of the middle - class , educated , urban youth in modern india .
winner – 1957 – golden lion of st . mark for best film – aparajito ( the unvanquished )
celebrating the birth centenary of his father , whom he lost at the age of three , ray made his last documentary by going back to his roots and looking back at his own influences . it is more a history of his family over the course of the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century . ray talks about his grandfather upendrakishore and then about his father sukumar—their contributions in the field of literature , illustrations and printing . unlike any of his other documentaries , ray left the narration to soumitra chatterjee .
satyajit ray received numerous awards , both personal and for the films he made . this section contains an extensive list of the awards and honors ray received .
sukumar roy writings , even today , are among the most beloved by bengalis . this is especially true of his book of ' nonsense poems ' abol tabol ( which literally means gibberish ) . kids love their ' silliness ' while adults love their double entendres which lampoon casteism , snobbery and other lampoonable stuff .
michael koresky is the editorial director of the film society of lincoln center in new york ; a cofounder and editor of the online film magazine reverse shot ; and a frequent contributor to film comment and the criterion collection . he is also the author of terence davies ( university of illinois press , 2014 ) .
in 1949 , french film director jean renoir arrived in calcutta , to do the initial recce for his film the river . renoir , the son of pierre renoir , the great impressionist painter , was already acknowledged as a master film director . his la grande illusion ( 1937 ) was the first foreign - language film to be nominated for a best film oscar . his 1939 film the rules of the game ( la regle du jeu ) , with its deep - focus cinematography and moving cameras , had influenced cinematic technique as much as citizen kane ( which ray had missed on its first release because he was in shantiniketan ) , and is today regularly cited as one of the greatest films ever made .
but ray’s imagination was fired . this was the movie he wanted to make .
aparajito principally deals with apu’s teenage years . in the mid - 1980s , when i was living in an extremely cosmopolitan multilingual college hostel , doordarshan showed the film , sub - titled superbly by ray himself . i had watched the film before , but was willing to see it once again .
this 1976 - film is based on the novel of the same name by mani shankar mukherjee aka shankar .
in 1949 , ray married bijoya das , his first cousin and longtime sweetheart . the couple had a son , sandip , who is now a film director . in the same year , french director jean renoir came to calcutta to shoot his film the river . ray helped him to find locations in the countryside . ray told renoir about his idea of filming pather panchali , which had long been on his mind , and renoir encouraged him in the project .
a clipping from the film goopy gyne bagha byne where the king of ghosts ( “bhuter raja” ) grants goopy and bagha three boons . significantly satyajit ray used his own voice for the voice of king of ghosts ( “bhuter raja” ) . in this scene king of ghosts is speaking in rhyme . in 1980 , ray made a sequel to goopy gyne bagha byne , hirak rajar deshe , in this film too , most of the dialogues exchanged by the protagonists of the film were rhyming .
dr roy , a great physician and perhaps the canniest bengali politician before jyoti basu , was , however , a man completely disinterested in the arts . he had probably seen about a dozen films in his entire life . but he wanted to help , because this was sukumar’s son , and the cause seemed all right . no government agency in india had ever financed a film till then ; no one had even thought of the possibility .
s atyajit ray was india ' s first internationally recognized film - maker and , several years after his death , still remains the most well - known indian director on the world stage . ray has written that he became captivated by the cinema as a young college student , and he was self - taught , his film education consisting largely of repeated viewings of film classics by de sica , fellini , john ford , orson welles , and other eminent directors . with the release in 1955 of his first film pather panchali (
song of the road
) , whose financing presented ray with immense monetary problems , compelling him even to pawn his wife’s jewelry , he brought the neo - realist movement in film to india . little could anyone have imagined that this first film would launch ray on one of the most brilliant careers in the history of cinema , leading eventually not only to dozens of international awards , india’s highest honor , and a lifetime achievement oscar from hollywood , but the unusual accolade of being voted by members of the british film institute as one of the three greatest directors in world cinema .
so , pather panchali went to the cannes film festival . no one was interested . it was exhibited late at night at a small theatre . possibly a dozen people attended the screening . one of them , francois truffaut , then a critic with the radical french film journal cahiers du cinema , and who would go one to become a great film director , left the hall within 10 minutes , bored by the slow pace of the film . truffaut later apologized publicly and several times , and ray and he became good friends .
as my favourite film critic , the late great roger ebert put it , the bicycle thief stands outside time .
the film is about an upper class bengali family on vacation in darjeeling , a popular hill station near kanchenjunga .
based on a novella by ace writer sunil gangopadhyay , this much acclaimed 1970 ray film focuses on a group of friends escaping the bustle of the city by heading to a tribal outpost in bihar .
so , i am a bit of a biased person when i write about ray .
reading : i would strongly recommend andrew robinson’s book the inner eye , one of the best books on film i know . we now have a new robinson book the apu trilogy : satyajit ray and the making of an epic , and keya ganguly’s book cinema , emergence and the films of satyajit ray , in which she makes the ( unusual ) case for him as an avant - garde modernist . there is also a collection of ray’s writings on film our lives , their lives .
decades later , my father and his cousin were still laughing about that day . neither could remember the name of the suchitra sen film , but the world had refused to forget—and will never do so—the film my father had gone to watch : pather panchali ( the song of the road ) , directed by satyajit ray . in fact , quite by chance , my father had been one of the first few hundred people to watch a film that would be one of the greatest landmarks in indian film history , put our cinema on the world map , and launch a filmmaking career of astonishing creativity that would inspire and open the doors of perception for several generations of film directors .
he also wrote essays on film , published as the collections : our films , their films ( 1976 ) , bishoy chalachchitra ( 1976 ) , and ekei bole shooting ( 1979 ) . during the mid - 1990s , ray’s film essays and an anthology of short stories were also published in english in the west . our films , their films is an anthology of film criticism by ray . the book contains articles and personal journal excerpts . the book is presented in two sections : ray first discusses indian film , before turning his attention toward hollywood , specific filmmakers ( charlie chaplin and akira kurosawa ) , and movements such as italian neorealism . his book bishoy chalachchitra was published in translation in 2006 as speaking of films . it contains a compact description of his philosophy of different aspects of the cinema . [ edit ] ray as calligrapher
ray considered making a film on the bangladesh liberation war but later abandoned the idea . he said that , as a filmmaker , he was more interested in the travails of the refugees and not the politics . in 1977 , ray completed shatranj ke khiladi ( the chess players ) , a hindi film based on a story by munshi premchand . it was set in lucknow in the state of oudh , a year before the indian rebellion of 1857 . a commentary on issues related to the colonization of india by the british , this was ray’s first feature film in a language other than bengali . it is his most expensive and star - studded film , featuring sanjeev kumar , saeed jaffrey , amjad khan , shabana azmi , victor bannerjee and richard attenborough .
banarjee , the cinematic possibilities of which began to intrigue him . ray had long been an
he was a ray of light . it illuminated and showed the way and the possibilities .
dasgupta , chidananda . the cinema of satyajit ray . new delhi : vikas , 1980 .
sukumar ray died when satyajit was barely three , and the family survived on suprabha ray’s meager income . ray studied at ballygunge government high school , calcutta , and completed his b . a . ( hons . ) in economics at presidency college of the university of calcutta , though his interest was always in fine arts . in 1940 , his mother insisted that he study at the visva - bharati university at santiniketan , founded by rabindranath tagore . ray was reluctant due to his love of calcutta , and the low opinion of the intellectual life at santiniketan [ 10 ] his mother’s persuasion and his respect for tagore finally convinced him to try . in santiniketan , ray came to appreciate oriental art . he later admitted that he learned much from the famous painters nandalal bose and benode behari mukherjee . later he produced a documentary film , the inner eye , about mukherjee . his visits to ajanta , ellora and elephanta stimulated his admiration for indian art .
to celebrate 100 years of indian cinema , the british film institute in london has organised a retrospective of the films of satyajit ray . and the films are drawing audiences to the theatres in droves , says shrabani basu
this was ray’s last chance . he approached west bengal chief minister dr b . c . roy , who had been a friend of his father . could the government give him some money to finish the film ?
in 1962 , ray directed kanchenjungha . based on his first original screenplay , it was his first film in colour . the film tells of an upper - class family spending an afternoon in darjeeling , a picturesque hill town in west bengal . they try to arrange the engagement of their youngest daughter to a highly paid engineer educated in london . he had first conceived shooting the film in a large mansion , but later decided to film it in the famous hill town . he used the many shades of light and mist to reflect the tension in the drama . ray noted that while his script allowed shooting to be possible under any lighting conditions , a commercial film contingent present at the same time in darjeeling failed to shoot a single scene , as they only wanted to do so in sunshine .
at the 11th moscow international film festival in 1979 , he was awarded with the honorable prize for the contribution to cinema .
a brilliant science student , sukumar studied photography and printing technology in england after his graduation ( he topped the class at the manchester school of printing technology ) , and invented a new technique of halftone block - making that even earned him a small mention in encyclopedia britannica . back in india , he took charge of the printing company his father had set up , u . ray & sons , one of the finest presses in the country , and of sandesh .
filmgoer , and his deepening interest in the medium inspired his first attempts to write screenplays and his cofounding ( 1947 ) of the calcutta film society . in 1949 ray was encouraged in his cinematic ambitions by the french director
jana aranya , also based on a sankar novel , is perhaps ray’s most cynical film . it is shot in a style that is as un - ray - like that one can imagine . there are no beautifully planned shots and camera angles . it runs like a hard cold documentary as it follows its young protagonist from innocence to moral degeneration while he tries to make a living . but , as the film reaches its climax , ray uses a little known tagore song as the audio background as he sharply intercuts to show all the major characters of the film , and create an extraordinarily affecting and haunted atmosphere while his hero travels to his greatest moral compromise . it is as near - perfect a use of lyrics and music as anyone has got to in the history of film .
once he stated , “i can do without music , i can use actual sounds creatively to serve the purpose of music , after all ideally one should be able to do without music completely… . ideally , a film ought to be able to do without music” . that may sound contradictory while he experimented with his film music . but he proved why he is a film institution . in the film kanchanjangha , we can notice a character who is mentally devastated , confused , where he has used the visual language of film . a boy carrying a bag of metal wastages create a noir which depicts the psychological state of the character .
the los angeles - based academy of motion picture arts and sciences then worked closely with several expert groups to preserve the films . till now it has preserved 18 of ray & apos ; s feature films and one short film . the restoration was carried out by the satyajit ray preservation project , california , in collaboration with the academy film archive , los angeles , the merchant ivory foundation ( new york ) and the film foundation , set up by the director , martin scorsese . the restored films were all made available by the academy of motion picture arts and sciences .
almost every film of ray reflects a great involvement of fusion music . at the starting of his film life , other composers used to direct music of his movies but later he started himself . actually according to him , in that period no indian composer was properly trained to compose music for the film . they were habituated with concert music . hence , they could not limit their music to a 30 - second limit and directors had to cut the music . that was a major problem . though he never undermined their contributions , as he told , “they were not film composers , they were virtuosos” .
in 1996 , entertainment weekly magazine ranked ray at # 25 in its “50 greatest directors” list .
to celebrate 100 years of indian cinema , the british film institute in london has organised a retrospective of the films of satyajit ray . and the films are drawing audiences to the theatres in droves , says shrabani basu | read»
alfred hitchcock , a director of directors , talking about his film vertigo , which is regularly rated in various polls as a great film , said that this was one film he made that he had complete control over . every detail in the film was dictated by him . “if you see a yellow volkswagen passing by on the road outside the room where my characters are meeting , then you should know that i chose a volkswagen , and it is yellow because i chose that colour , ” he once said .
based on rabindranath tagore’s novella noshtoneer , this 1964 - film set in 1870s kolkata tells the tale of a housewife , charu .
beneath its sunny veneer , the film has a dark centre and gradually turns into a commentary on the squalor of urban life .
satyajit ray designed four typefaces for roman script named ray roman , ray bizarre , daphnis , and holiday script , apart from numerous bengali ones for the sandesh magazine . ray roman and ray bizarre won an international competition in 1971 . in certain circles of calcutta , ray continued to be known as an eminent graphic designer , well into his film career . ray illustrated all his books and designed covers for them , as well as creating all publicity material for his films , i . e . , ray’s artistic playing with the bangla graphemes was also revealed in the cine posters and cine promo - brochures’ covers . he also designed covers of several books by other authors . in his calligraphic technique there are deep impacts of : ( a ) artistic pattern of european musical staff notation in the graphemic syntagms ; ( b ) alpana ( “ritual painting” mainly practiced by bengali women at the time of religious festival ; the term denotes ‘to coat with’ . generally categorized as “folk” - art cf . in ray’s graphemic representations .
from 1959–64 ray composed films on the british raj period ( such as devi ) , a documentary on tagore , a comic film ( mahapurush ) and his first film from an original screenplay ( kanchenjungha ) . he also made a series of films that , taken together , are considered by critics among the most deeply felt portrayals of indian women on screen .
ray’s film successes had little influence on his personal life in the years to come . he continued to live with his wife and children in a rented house , with his mother , uncle and other members of his extended family .
director anindya ghosh’s upcoming bengali film thammar boyfriend is currently being shot in different parts of the city . | pinterest | kolkata and boyfriends
ray decided to use pather panchali ( 1928 ) , the classic bildungsroman of bengali literature , as the basis for his first film . the semi - autobiographical novel describes the maturation of apu , a small boy in a bengal village .
along with chidananda dasgupta and others , ray founded the calcutta film society in 1947 . they screened many foreign films , many of which ray watched and seriously studied . he befriended the american gis stationed in calcutta during world war ii , who kept him informed about the latest american films showing in the city . he came to know a raf employee , norman clare , who shared ray’s passion for films , chess and western classical music .
satyajit ray ; adapted from the play : ' an enemy of the people ' by henrik ibsen .
it is the last among ray ' s calcutta trilogy , the previous two being pratidwandi and seemabaddha .
satyajit ray , an indian filmmaker and among the dozen or so great masters of world cinema , is known for his humanistic approach to cinema . a true auteur , ray directly controlled many aspects of filmmaking .
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meanwhile , other things were happening . ray was already recognized as a star in his profession , and was perhaps one of the highest paid creative directors in the indian advertising industry . but his heart was elsewhere : he wanted to make films ( ray was thus the first of a long line of indian admen who left their jobs to become film directors , from shyam benegal to dibakar banerjee , many of them inspired by ray ; benegal , in fact , has often acknowledged ray’s influence on him and made an authoritative documentary on the man in 1982 ) .
at the time of the second world war , and the final period of india’s independence struggle , ray was employed as a graphic artist at a publishing house in calcutta designing covers of books as well as illustrations of content . one of these books was bibuthibhushan bandhopadhyay’s pather panchali which immediately inspired ray as the subject for his first film . ray received further inspiration when he met french master jean renoir during pre - production of his bengal - set the river . his visits to the set of the river formed lasting friendships with art director bansi chandragupta ( who became ray’s regular art director ) and future cinematographer subrata mitra . pather panchali ( song of the little road ) , released in 1955 after a difficult three - year production would be the fruit of ray’s tenacity and uncompromising will . made with an inexperienced cast and crew outside the system of commercial indian cinema , the film became a great international success winning a special prize at the cannes film festival .
over about four decades—counting from the day he started shooting pather panchali to the release of his last film , agantuk , ray directed 28 feature films , plus several documentaries ( including sikkim , sponsored by the king of sikkim , when it was still an independent country ; the film was banned in india by indira gandhi and remains banned till date ) and short films , and one telefilm .
) and its two sequels , known as the apu trilogy . as a director ray was noted for his
seton , marie . portrait of a director : satyajit ray . bloomington : indiana university press , 1971 .
the most cynical film he ever made was jana aranya ( the middleman , 1975 ) —and ray was the only film director who could get away with showing a corrupt bureaucrat with a framed photo of then prime minister indira gandhi on his wall ; the film was released during the emergency . but even in jana aranya , as the protagonist goes around trying to find a sex worker he can supply to a rich businessman to get a contract , the women are treated with a respect and sophistication that is almost unmatched in world cinema .
ray was an only child whose father died in 1923 . his grandfather was a writer and illustrator , and his father , sukumar ray , was a writer and illustrator of bengali nonsense verse . ray grew up in calcutta and was looked after by his mother . he entered a government school , where he was taught chiefly in bengali , and then studied at presidency college , calcutta’s leading college , where he was taught in english . by the time he graduated in 1940 , he was fluent in both languages . in 1940 his mother persuaded him to attend art school at santiniketan , rabindranath tagore’s rural university northwest of calcutta . there ray , whose interests had been exclusively urban and western - oriented , was exposed to indian and other eastern art and gained a deeper appreciation of both eastern and western culture , a harmonious combination that is evident in his films .
its message , about the perils of greed , religious fanaticism , and environmental pollution , may be topical , but the film is too static to have total impact . still , there are enough flashes of ray ' s brilliance to make it worthwhile .
just one small example . pather panchali was the first indian film that showed characters actually eating , putting real food in their mouths and chewing !
in a 1982 lecture , he recalled his emotions . the film had “gored” him . “i came out of the theatre with my mind firmly made up . i would become a filmmaker . the prospect of giving up a job didn’t daunt me any more . i would make my film exactly as de sica had made his : working with non - professional actors , using modest resources , and shooting on actual locations . the village which bibhutibhushan had so lovingly described would be a living backdrop to the film , just as the outskirts of rome were for de sica’s film . ”
gradually became his most valued assistant .
the best assistant i ever had
, ray told an interviewer .
satyajit ray’s paternal grandfather , upendrakishore ray was a writer , illustrator , philosopher , publisher , amateur astronomer and a leader of the brahmo samaj , a religious and social movement in nineteenth century bengal . he also set up a printing press by the name of u . ray and sons , which formed a crucial backdrop to satyajit’s life .
but the cunning dr roy found a way . since the title of the half - born film was the song of the road , he gave ray the money from the state’s road development fund . and pather panchali was done . this is possibly one of the most innovative decisions taken by an indian politician , with a gigantic impact that he himself—or ray—could never have imagined .
ray had a heart attack in the early 1980s , and his work was never the same . in 1984 , he made the first film he had ever wanted to make , ghare baire ( the home and the world ) , based on a tagore novel , years before he started working on pather panchali . though visually enchanting , it is a strangely disappointing film . a political novel was turned into what ray described as a “greek tragedy” , a love triangle with a rather unattractive actor playing the woman in the middle .
one of the main attractions of the screenings are the restored prints of ray & apos ; s films . the attempt to restore all of ray & apos ; s works — 28 feature films and seven short subjects and documentaries — began in 1992 shortly after he received an honorary oscar . during the production of the oscar telecast , producers were dismayed to find that there were very few prints or master videos of ray & apos ; s film in the us , and the ones they did locate were incomplete and in poor condition . it transpired that ray had shot all of his films on non - flammable
safety
film based on triacetate , which , when exposed to warm , moist environments as they were in india , could deteriorate dramatically .
the next day , overwhelmed by the experience , he bought 30 blank vhs cassettes so that he could record every film of ray’s as doordarshan showed them . he told us this , with diffidence and humility—after all , these were two bengali journalists arguing , and bengalis are supposed to be terminally intellectual , and ray was bengali , etc . , etc . —and rested his case .
( to be factually accurate , the first bengali novel he wanted to film was tagore’s ghare baire ( the home and the world ) and he even wrote a screenplay for it . his friend harisadhan dasgupta was supposed to direct . negotiations with producers , however , fell through , and years later , ray would say that that was extremely fortunate—he found the script that he had written melodramatic and “very hollywoodish” . ray would finally make ghare baire four decades later , in 1984 . it was a disappointing film , in this author’s opinion . )
the crystal clear images of the newly restored mahanagar and the apu trilogy make the films timeless in their beauty . not surprisingly , mahanagar was chosen for a nationwide release in the uk . tickets for several screenings of the film sold out in august and the film has attracted steady bookings for september as well .
in 1950 , ray’s employers sent him to london for a five - month stint at headquarters . whatever they may have expected from ray when he came back to calcutta , the man who returned was someone who had chosen his destiny .
in 1980 , ray made a sequel to goopy gyne bagha byne , a somewhat political hirak rajar deshe ( kingdom of diamonds ) . the kingdom of the evil diamond king , or hirok raj , is an allusion to india during indira gandhi’s emergency period . [ 45 ] along with his acclaimed short film pikoo ( pikoo’s diary ) and hour - long hindi film , sadgati , this was the culmination of his work in this period .
but ray was unable to raise money from skeptical bengali producers , who distrusted a first - time director with such unconventional ideas . shooting could not begin until late 1952 , using ray’s own money , with the rest eventually coming from a grudging
in 1950 , satyajit went to london in connection with his job . instantly , he became a member of london film club and during his stay there for five months , he saw about a hundred films . he also got acquainted with persons like the british filmmaker , lindsay anderson and film specialists peneloppi huston and gavin lambert . he was highly impressed by the bicycle thief directed by italian vittorio d sica and decided to make a film on bibhutibhushan bandyopadhyay ' s novel pather panchali .
not to have seen the cinema of ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon
, said akira kurosawa , the great master of japanese cinema . a collection of excerpts and quotes by well - known film critics , filmmakers and others . . .
back in calcutta , writing a review of the film in the journal that his film society published , ray wrote : “for a popular medium , the best kind of inspiration should derive from life and have its roots in it . no amount of technical polish can make up for artificiality of theme and dishonesty of treatment . the indian filmmaker must turn to life , to reality . de sica , and not demille , should be his ideal . ”
they ran out of money , and no one was willing to finance the film . meanwhile , ray had quit his job , spent all his savings on the film ( his wife bijoya stood by him while his mother suprabha was extremely sceptical ; widowed at a young age , she attached a lot of value to financial security ) . he even sold his unmatchable collection of music , and cleaned out his uncle subimal ray’s provident fund . but it was still not enough . in the meantime , the girl playing durga had reached puberty and was beginning to look different .
ray met e . b . havell in london , whom he had known as principal of the calcutta school of art , and visited rothenstein ' s house . rothenstein suggested to ray that he make colour reproductions of the ajanta caves and indian architecture , influenced by his preoccupations with the india society . ray was good friends with rathindranath , the son of rabindranath tagore .
ray documents the on - stage movements of the famous bharatnatyam dancer balasaraswati and her off - stage life with her friends and family . avoiding much experimentation in filmmaking , ray lets the dancer do all the ‘talking’ through prolonged shots of her performances .
in college , he was suddenly exposed to the art and craft of the film director , as opposed to the charm of the stars , when he read two books on film theory by the great russian director vsevolod pudovkin , who , along with his contemporary sergei eisenstein , developed the technique of montage—using a series of connected images to express a powerful idea . he also chanced upon an issue of sight & sound , the journal published by the british film institute , and became a subscriber .
between 1965–82 , ray took on projects of increasing variety , ranging from fantasy to science fiction to detective films to historical drama . ray also made considerable formal experimentation during this period . he expressed contemporary issues of indian life , responding to a perceived lack of these issues in his films . the first major film in this period is nayak ( the hero ) , the story of a screen hero traveling in a train and meeting a young , sympathetic female journalist . starring uttam kumar and sharmila tagore , in the twenty - four hours of the journey , the film explores the inner conflict of the apparently highly successful matinée idol . in spite of the film’s receiving a “critics prize” at the berlin festival , it had a generally muted reception .