The Eclipse Viewer – Episode 36 – Late Ray

As we celebrate the new release of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, David and Trevor discuss three of the final films directed by the great Indian auteur.

This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss Eclipse Series 40: Late Ray.

About the films:

The films directed by the great Satyajit Ray in the last ten years of his life have a unique dignity and drama. Three of them are collected here: the fervent Rabindranath Tagore adaptation The Home and the World; the vital An Enemy of the People, based on the Henrik Ibsen play; and the filmmaker’s final work, the poignant and philosophical family story The Stranger. They are complex, political, and humane depictions of worlds both corrupt and indescribably beautiful, constructed with Ray’s characteristic elegance and imbued with autumnal profundity. These late-career features are the meditative works of a master.

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Buy The Box Set On Amazon:

SatyajitRay.org
Explore on the Criterion Collection
Satyajit Ray: A Moral Attitude on Sight & Sound magazine by Andrew Robinson
Director’s Page on Senses of Cinema by Helen Goritsas
Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center at University of California, Santa Cruz

– link to Poster Collection
Interview with Satyajit Ray (1968) in Film Comment by James Blue
“An Inheritance of Endless Possibilities” – Career retrospective article in The Wire by Sharmila Tagore (actress who debuted in Apur Sansar and worked with Ray in four other films.)

Box Set Reviews

DVD Talk review by Jamie S. Rich
Slant review by Jordan Cronk
Crave Online review by Witney Siebold
DVDBlu review by Christopher S. Long
Between Civility and Civilization: PopMatters review by Andrew Grossman
The Film Stage review by Danny King

The Home and the World

David’s Journey Through the Eclipse Series review
Interview with Swatilekha Sengupta (female star of The Home and the World)
New York Times review (1985) by Vincent Canby
Review by The Film Sufi
Ellipsis: The Accents of Cinema review by @bressonian
Review (1984) by Roger Ebert
Schoolwork Helper summary and review

An Enemy of the People

David’s Journey Through the Eclipse Series review
New York Times review (1989) by Barbara Crossette
The Guardian review (from a political science perspective) by Alice Bell
Review by The Film Sufi
Let’s Talk About Bollywood! review by yves
Next Projection review by Doug Heller

The Stranger

David’s Journey Through the Eclipse Series review
New York Times review (1992) by Vincent Canby
Los Angeles Times review (1995) by Peter Rainer
Words from Solitude review by shubho
Let’s Talk About Bollywood! review by yves
Next Projection review by Adam Kuntavanish
Projected Perspectives review by Sachin Shrijith

Satyajit Ray’s 1992 acceptance speech for an honorary career-achievement Oscar, presented by Audrey Hepburn:

Next time on the podcast: Eclipse Series 18: Dušan Makavejev—Free Radical 

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Email: theeclipseviewer (at) gmail.com
David Blakeslee ( Twitter / Website )
Trevor Berrett ( Twitter / Website )