Our Films, Their Films - Hardcover

Ray, Satyajit

4.24

558 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786861223 ISBN 13: 9780786861224

Publisher: Hyperion, 1994

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This book brings together Satyajit Ray's major writings and talks on film making and film makers, and presents them in two sections. 'Our Films' is devoted mainly to his own experiences and contains many interesting anecdotes, but also has observations to offer on trends in Indian films. 'Their Films' deals with some films from abroad that have become landmarks in the history of the cinema from the silent era to the present day.

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About the Author:

Satyajit Ray was a prolific film maker and writer who brought widespread recognition towards Indian Cinema through his film Pather Panchali. Satyajit s Ray s style of writing didn t conform to any particular format or texture. He wrote about science fiction in Professor Shanku and also handled the psychological study of criminal minds in the Feluda Stories. Satyajit Ray primarily wrote books in Bengali and his English essays on films were published as Our Films Their Films in the year 1976. He wrote other books related to film-making like Ekei Bole Shooting and Bishoy Chalachchitra, which were published in 1979 and 1976, respectively.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A collection of essays by one of the world's great filmmakers, dating back to his early days as a film buff. The late Satyajit Ray, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1991, was easily the finest director ever produced by the endlessly prolific Indian film industry. Unlike the majority of his colleagues, he worked in Bengali rather than Hindi (the dominant language of his country), and he made quietly intelligent, liberal humanist films rather than raucous four-hour musicals, the popular staple. This collection of his occasional writings on Indian and foreign films, published in India in 1976, reflects his humanist concerns. In the course of such essays as ``What Is Wrong with Indian Films?'' and ``The Odds Against Us,'' he repeatedly argues for a cinema about personal problems and large issues, a cinema that is perhaps a little too content-based for the tastes of many critics. The pieces, which date from 1948 to 1974, include several lovely reminiscences and journal excerpts from his filmmaking days; in fact, the best material describes working and traveling at home and abroad. Unfortunately, the book and film reviews that make up the bulk of the volume are disappointingly ordinary; he has little new to say about Akira Kurosawa, John Ford, or the other directors he admires. On occasion, Ray will rise up in a manifesto-like tone, urging Indian filmmakers to draw on their own social reality rather than following foreign models, however admirable. At those moments, his prose catches fire again. Rather than issuing this collection of often indifferent material, Hyperion would have done a greater service to Ray's memory by publishing more of his working journals or reminiscences. -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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