WATCH PARTY: Pather Panchali (1955) dir. Satyajit Ray @ Jordan Newby

This is supposed to be one of the greatest movies ever made, by one of the world's greatest directors, and the first in a great trilogy, the Apu trilogy. (We'll gauge if there's appetite to put films 2 and 3 on the schedule.)

We'll be on the 2nd floor in the Cloud Room, to the left as you get off the elevator/stairs.

RATING: Not Rated

RUNTIME: 125 minutes

SYNOPSIS (via Criterion.com): With the release in 1955 of Satyajit Ray’s debut, Pather Panchali, an eloquent and important new cinematic voice made itself heard all over the world. A depiction of rural Bengali life in a style inspired by Italian neorealism, this naturalistic but poetic evocation of a number of years in the life of a family introduces us to both little Apu and, just as essentially, the women who will help shape him: his independent older sister, Durga; his harried mother, Sarbajaya, who, with her husband away, must hold the family together; and his kindly and mischievous elderly “auntie,” Indir—vivid, multifaceted characters all. With resplendent photography informed by its young protagonist’s perpetual sense of discovery, Pather Panchali, which won an award for Best Human Document at the Cannes Film Festival, is an immersive cinematic experience and a film of elemental power.

BLURBS:
"In the history of cinema, there are a number of great pictures, but only a few miracles. One of those miracles is Pather Panchali, the late filmmaker Satyajit Ray's brilliantly executed, shatteringly realistic and compassionate drama." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

"The great, sad, gentle sweep of 'The Apu Trilogy' remains in the mind of the moviegoer as a promise of what film can be. Standing above fashion, it creates a world so convincing that it becomes, for a time, another life we might have lived." - Roger Ebert

"This first film by the masterly Satyajit Ray—possibly the most unembarrassed and natural of directors—is a quiet reverie about the life of an impoverished Brahman family in a Bengali village. Beautiful, sometimes funny, and full of love, it brought a new vision of India to the screen." - Pauline Kael, The New Yorker