27 Abhijan

[Matango]

Thanks a lot for that Films Division link...excellent website, a real goldmine! =D>

[Matango]

Any news? This is the release of the year for me.

[peerpee]

30 minute video interview with Dilip Basu, curator of the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection, Santa Cruz.

On track for April now.

SHARK ISLAND has been bumped to March, and ABHIJAN to April.

[Matango]

At least it's coming....thanks a lot.

[daniel p]

beaver

[Hashi]

Anyone else feel that Gary's words and captures do not exactly correspond to each other? Fortunately the captures are there! Though, I'm still grateful for MoC to include this film in their catalogue.

[Matango]

I'm really jumping for joy to finally get this. Been pining since it was announced way back. Only seen the Ray Foundation short so far, but to see him accepting the Oscar on his hospital bed is alone worth the price. =D>

[kekid]

The Ray Foundation short included with "Abhijan" claims that 15 of Ray's films have been restored. If this is true, there really is little excuse for labels like Criterion not releasing some of them. I applaud Eureka/MoC for releasing Abhijan in a beautiful version. I hope they will follow this up with more of this neglected master's work.

[Lino]

DVDTimes review

[feihong]

Merchant-Ivory payed for restorations of a great many of Ray's films in the mid-90s. In 2001 I saw a restored edition of PATHER PANCHALI at LACMA, and it was absolutely beautiful. The Artificial Eye set, while the best edition out there, was a huge disappointment after seeing that print. The Apu films, DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST, TWO DAUGHTERS, CHARULATA, DEVI and several others were remastered by Merchant Ivory. It's pretty criminal to my mind that these prints aren't available for DVD companies or that they aren't more affordable for them. What's more, the Merchant-Ivory restorations are sepia-toned...I'm not sure that's what Ray intended, but the sepia adds a great deal of tactile beauty to the prints. I was very bummed to discover that none of the DVDs of the films out there were restored or tinted. Major bummer.

[godardslave]

Come on Criterion where is the box set of restored Ray?

This is one of the great directors in the history of world cinema, and instead your releasing stuff like monsters and madmen or Border,Radio. (no offense intended).

I really wish Criterion would change their US/Europe bias once and for all.

[tavernier]

Wrong thread, dude...

[porcupine2]

Excellent news, lets hope Artificial Eye begin to deliver also

I'm speculating, & it would be great to be corrected, but when AE was sold last year - see this obituary of its founder Andi Engel, they may have had a shake-up or reassessment of future projects -

the promised Rays and Angelopoulos titles of which little is heard these days could have been axed?

[unclehulot]

Netflix has the following Ray titles listed as new for this week:

Charulata
Mahanagar
Kapurush
Joi Baba Felunath
Mahapurush
Nayak

Any idea who has issued them? I only know Charulata out of these.....I seem to remember my local Blockbuster had what looked like a crappy Bollywood-ish label version.

[kekid]

Almost all of Ray's films are available now in India on DVD. The quality varies from very good to acceptable.

I can recommend this source if you are interested in exploring those.

I do not know which versions Netflex will be offering, but they might well be these.

[emcflat]

I've got "Mahapurush" in the mail to me from Netflix right now. I'll try to report on it's quality after I get it.

Almost all of Ray's films are available now in India on DVD. The quality varies from very good to acceptable.

I can recommend this source if you are interested in exploring those.

I recently bought "Devi" and "Abhijan" from Calcuttaweb.com, as well as Ghatak's "Cloud-Capped Star" and "Ajantrik." As stated, picture quality ranges greatly. The subs on Cloud-Capped Star are very spotty; there are often characters talking on screen and no subs will appear for twenty or more seconds.. But the major qualm I have with Calcuttaweb as a seller is that they sell both PAL and NTSC, but do not specify this in the item description. Of the four I bought, it was a 50/50 mix. Very frustrating if your player cannot handle PAL..

[Ishmael]

I watched Kapurush the other night. The quality reminded me a lot of a videotape from the mid-90s, like something from the Connoisseur Video Collection. The print isn't restored, but it doesn't have any outrageous damage marks. The picture seemed too dark to me, though, and wasn't very sharp. It's full frame; I don't know what the aspect ratio is supposed to be, but nothing about the compositions seemed off. I watched it on a tube, so I can't comment on ghosting or combing and such. The film looked better than Sony's discs of the Apu trilogy, although the latter seemed a bit sharper than Kapurush. The audio was worse than the picture--a lot of hiss and static--but I could hear all the dialogue clearly. The subtitles were written with the same sort of grammars mistakes that Indian ESL speakers make. They generally seemed comprehensible, but I have no idea whether they were accurate. They were removable, however, and they were white with black borders. This is definitely a rental only disc, but considering that this isn't an easy film to find on DVD it's definitely better than I expected. The film itself was fantastic.

[kekid]

I've got "Mahapurush" in the mail to me from Netflix right now. I'll try to report on it's quality after I get it.

Almost all of Ray's films are available now in India on DVD. The quality varies from very good to acceptable.

I can recommend this source if you are interested in exploring those.

I recently bought "Devi" and "Abhijan" from Calcuttaweb.com, as well as Ghatak's "Cloud-Capped Star" and "Ajantrik." As stated, picture quality ranges greatly. The subs on Cloud-Capped Star are very spotty; there are often characters talking on screen and no subs will appear for twenty or more seconds.. But the major qualm I have with Calcuttaweb as a seller is that they sell both PAL and NTSC, but do not specify this in the item description. Of the four I bought, it was a 50/50 mix. Very frustrating if your player cannot handle PAL..

This is rather strange. Everything I have received from them is NTSC.

[colinr0380]

DVD Talk review

[skuhn8]

The Ray Foundation short included with "Abhijan" claims that 15 of Ray's films have been restored. If this is true, there really is little excuse for labels like Criterion not releasing some of them.

And to continue that thought: especially now that there's the Eclipse venture. An Eclipse Box o' Ray would be a great idea.

But this is an MOC thread...so would be happy to see you folks follow up as well.

[bluesea]

The Ray Foundation short included with "Abhijan" claims that 15 of Ray's films have been restored. If this is true, there really is little excuse for labels like Criterion not releasing some of them. I applaud Eureka/MoC for releasing Abhijan in a beautiful version. I hope they will follow this up with more of this neglected master's work.

If you are refering to this, in their FAQ they indicate that they have the rights to 35mm restoration exclusively for educational purposes. The rights to DVD transfers seems to remain bogged down in a quagmire with the various owners. Its a glimmer of hope...

[peerpee]

The problem is with the various Indian producers who own the rights. They don't believe in royalty payments and thus require a large payment upfront (which Eureka paid for ABHIJAN).

Unfortunately, ABHIJAN has been one of the MoC Series' worst sellers, so there's not much enthusiasm from Eureka with regard to releasing more Ray. If we could sell another few thousand we'd probably be able to put out more.

[tryavna]

Unfortunately, ABHIJAN has been one of the MoC Series' worst sellers, so there's not much enthusiasm from Eureka with regard to releasing more Ray. If we could sell another few thousand we'd probably be able to put out more.

That's a real shame! It's quite unlike Ray's other early work, but it's still a remarkably complex and rewarding film. It certainly deserves wider appreciation. (And the disc is R0/NTSC for those who still haven't gone region-free.)

[eez28]

Unfortunately, ABHIJAN has been one of the MoC Series' worst sellers

That's so sad because this is a really good film. I was hooked to it right away and since my viewing have been interested in checking out other Ray films.

[ezmbmh]

I'm surprised as well. Aside from its own merits--considerable--this is the most "Western" film of Ray's I've seen, more plot, more (melo) drama, even the weirdest fistfight I've ever seen on film (Clift and Wayne in Red River it aint). Plus, as has been mentioned, it's region free. A marvelous nuanced film, great performances, all of Ray's directorial hallmarks. An utter shame if it doesn't sell more and prevents more Ray releases.