Aparajito

Almost as good as Pather Panchali, it's more of the same and yet markedly different in that we see the same culture but as Apu grows up the perspective shifts. The acting is again very good though there are a few times where it falters just a little bit. What's really striking about the film is how so many aspects are universal even with all the superficial differences.

Direct comparisons to Pather Panchali are inevitable and this one isn't as successful, but it's still a beautiful, well-acted story with a great musical score. It's more tragic than Pather, but the lack of bright-eyed innocence present in Aparajito as compared to Pather makes its predecessor more powerful. It's still a wonderful film, though.

A little bit less than Pather Panchali... a little less beautiful, a little less interesting, a little less well-acted, a little weaker score. I'm not saying I don't like it, but coming right after Pather Panchali it doesn't feel as powerful. I also think Ray perhaps judges Apu too harshly.

Not as good as Pather Panchali but still an excellent film. The thing I like about these movies is that it transports me to a culture and world I know nothing about, can't relate to at all and would otherwise have no interest in but it grabs me and shows me something that us Americans rarely, if ever, see. I didn't even need subtitles for many of the scenes, you knew what they were saying, it was just written all over the actors faces. Very moving.

Apu faces more challenges in the second and by a very tiny margin the least successful of the Apu trilogy. The actress who plays Apu's mother (Karuna Bannerjee) is very, very good here.

Karuna Banerjee's performance is a thing of perfection.

Loses points for Apu in blackface with spear and shield shouting, "Africa! Africa!" over and over. Nah, just kidding. (It gains points.) (Thank you, come again.)

Ray has grown as a director, but mostly on a technical level. The film lacks the lyrical beauty and poetic imagery that "Pather Panchali" possessed. Don't let that turn you away, I mean sure, it's not as rejuvenating as its predecessor but "Aparajito" is still a great and compelling film.

Simple but sensitive tale about poverty, the passage of time, and the virtue of education. Nice to look back at a time when education still existed and so it was possible to believe in that virtue.

Just as good of a drama as it's predecessor, it just feels a bit...smaller, I guess. Still, it's a fantastic movie all-around.

Although this is part of the Apu trilogy, this film feels so much like the mother's movie. She is (again) fantastic in all of her scenes. The way she shows happiness and sadness all at once is really quite the show. What's great about this movie and this trilogy so far, is the way it can simultaneously transport this viewer to a world that is so wildly different from my own, yet still be so completely relatable.

the past and the future, and a negotiation between the two. apu grows up, and as he does so, he loses his innocent playfulness. not quite on the same level as pather panchali, lacking the magic of that one, particularly once apu leaves for calcutta. it is nonetheless still a quietly beautiful continuation of the story, and it captures the passage of time wonderfully.

Good Movie

A warm and touching film that successfully follows Pather Panchali on the themes of family, poverty, and loss.

Another flawless work of power in simplicity. Devastating without a trace of melodrama. As the "end" credit fades away, I felt compelled to rewatch the final ten or so shots. Not as vivid in atmosphere or imagery as Pather, here the passing of time is misleadingly swift - but look how much we've lost by the end. This feels authentic as to how Apu has experienced this section of his life. Stories of mothers and sons tend to have an effect on me - this is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

In some senses, devastating, but a bit too much of a retread of the previous film's ideas. Enormously helped by the technical marvel that is a Satyajit Ray production.

Viewed September 4, 2015. I actually liked this one a lil more than Pather Panchali. I think that's mostly because it hit me right in the heartstrings, because it genuinely feels like it is about the life that I am living right now. But also the filmmaking is more assured, and the tone is more emotionally raw, and it was just unbelievably moving.

# 286

Beautiful, simple and poetic story about the urgency of life and the dynamic between future and past, youth and old age, progression and tradition. It could use some more breathing space between the dramatic turns but the the upside is there's no extra fat in the narrative. Another great score from Shankar.

This movie has a completely different tone and feel from Pather Panchali, not as heavy and not as personal. The mother while still unlikable here seems toned down which I liked. The story felt a little looser, whimsical, and more shallow at times.

While it may not live up to Pather Panchali in many ways it’s still a superb movie in its own right and has its own great images and performances. The mother-son relationship especially is well-drawn and heartbreaking.

289

Visit your mom or else she will 1. Guilt trip you into skipping classes 2. Stop eating 3. Hallucinate you coming to visit 4. Die

Has a very natural grace but seemed also to find moments for restrained Impressionist lighting that highlights a characters' inner feeling. The soundtrack is almost the opposite: colourful and passionate. One of those films that can carve out a unique temporal experience, if one is in a patient sort of mood.

My favorite part of the trilogy because of the bildungsroman aspect it has of Apu growing up and finding himself as an adolescent.

Star Rating: ★★★★

Warning: this is slightly more enjoyable if you watch the first episode first.

88.00

Finds beauty through simplicity and emotion through what goes unsaid. Satyajit Ray presents snapshots of life with such a keenly observational lens and conveys such a strong sense of settings and the contrast between rural and urban life. There's something even more poignant about Apu's earnest, heartfelt pursuit of knowledge from a modern vantage point with a certain segment of the U.S. so openly anti-education and with all of the book bannings and whatnot.

9?Apu???????????

Perhaps it is less effective as a self-contained work than its predecessor, but then again, most films pale in comparison to Pather Panchali anyway. It's nevertheless a beautifully composed and stirring work, an emerging bildungsroman on tragedy, resilience, and enlightenment. A neorealist influence is apparent in this film's diffuse series of small moments and emotional passages. The misfortunes hit hard because they are surrounded by joyous depictions of everyday life.

Compelling coming-of-age movie. There were a few times I was restless as it covers a lot of "slice of life" moments; there were other times I really wished the director would have probed more at particular moments. Favorite moment(s): Apu proudly dragging his new globe everywhere.

If it focused more on Apu's mother, then you probably have a movie that didn't feel so cold and emotionally distant. Good,not great.

Everything that Pather Panchali succeeded at, Aparajito fails at. However, this is an improvement on all that the previous film needed to fix with wiser tactics and strategies. Good, smooth-flowing Drama that's slightly better than the original.

More eventful and varied in scenery than Pather Panchali but also more straightforward.

Not quite as compelling as Pather Panchali but still full of humanity and warmth.

A bit more engaging and dramatically substantial than Pather Panchali, as well as somewhat more aesthetically accomplished, it reminds me even more of Ozu's work than the earlier film, for better or worse, with it's theme of encroaching modernization and generational tensions between children and their parents etc., although it still lacks the formal rigor that makes Ozu (just barely) more compelling. There are some nice incidental moments, but the relationship between Apu and his mom feels rote

I have mixed feelings about Aparajito... it's interesting enough and has a certain flow, but didn't really grab me. It's sort of more of the same that's happened in Pather Panchali, though I guess those elements are understated enough not to come off as exagerated or melodramatic. As in Pather, the mother is in a sense the central figure and Karuna Bannerjee is a good actress. Anyway, it's a fine movie but other than being the middle link in a trilogy, isn't very substantial.

Apu (Pinaki Sengupta, Smaran Ghosal), in the wake of his father's death, is set to become a rural priest, but convinces his mother (Karuna Bannerjee) to let him become a scholar. He eventually goes off to college in Calcutta, leaving her totally alone. The weakest part of the Apu trilogy, in part because it is so clearly a bridge to the third part, but still a beautifully made film in its own right, with superior cinematography and Bannerjee's hauntingly poignant performance.

295

The second chapter in the Apu trilogy continues with themes of poverty, lost dreams, loneliness, and loss. I found it superior to the first, perhaps because there's a little more going on. The performances are all outstanding, and many moments are heart-wrenching.

Writer/director Satyajit Ray beautifully conveys the passage of time in this, the second of his Apu Trilogy. This inevitable movement in film and in life carries with it both the excited anticipation of the future as well as the heartbreaking remembrance of things past. The woman who plays Apu's mother delivers my favorite performance of the trilogy, full of soul and pathos. The well-timed musical flourishes root the action with a sense of place. And oh, those fireflies.

In my view this is the best film of the Apu trilogy. The dynamics between Apu and his mother are fascinating, as we recognise his abandonment of her will probably be the death of her, but also know that he must leave her in order to experience all the world has to offer. The scenes of his enlightenment far from their provincial village are bracing, and Ray captures the almost limitless potential of youth perfectly. Masterful filmmaking.

The second Ray film I have seen. While it didn't captivate me to the extent that Pather Panchali did, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Touching and compelling film-making.

#303

[saw this a few years ago].