The Music Room/Jalsaghar

I sometimes put TV on in the background when I write, and I randomly put on some really horrible show - "Finding Bigfoot", which is about a group of really stupid "professional" hunters of "bigfoots." This is the worst. Some stoned looking guy just stared into the camera and said, "I think that was a real 'squatch!". I was hoping it would be one of those so-bad-that-it's-good sort of things, but honestly it's just so bad. So, so bad. Is it a joke? Ugh.

Aside from this, I did actually watch something good today. I watched The Music Room, directed by Satyajit Ray in 1958. I was really excited to see this because I really liked the Apu Trilogy that he directed. I was pretty much just familiar with the Bollywood style of Indian films until I saw that trilogy, and it was really mind-blowing. The films were really quiet and focused on normal, everyday sort of people - sort of like French New Wave. It's a great style, and I enjoyed seeing more of it. It's really cool when you can see films like this that can change your perceptions of culture in another country, if that makes any sense. For me, they really open my mind to a style of film that runs along side of Bollywood, and a style that I really enjoy.

The Apu Trilogy

Over the last three days, while repainting my bedroom and stocking up on Blu-rays for my new Christmas gift (I have the best parents, have I mentioned that ever?), I've been watching all three films of the Apu Trilogy. These three films (Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)) are directed by Satyajit Ray and were made between 1955 and 1959. They follow the life of a young Brahmin boy, Apu, as he grows up, goes to college, and marries. I learned that these films are part of a film movement in India known as "Parallel Cinema", which is sort of like French New Wave. They deal with realism, serious topics, and naturalism, and are the alternative to mainstream Bollywood films. This is really new for me - the only Indian cinema I am familiar with is Bollywood, so it was very interesting to see this totally different style.