Okay, I've tagged this with a spoiler warning but if you don't believe me, I'll repeat it here. I'll write about the film so openly I seriously encourage you to see it first and then come back. Otherwise I might ruin what is a transcending work of art.
Film, as any art, is like a boat in the river of stories, through which we're steered by great masters. This is one of the strongest works I've seen in a very long time that explicitly – okay, not as explicitly as Welles in "F for Fake" (1973), Imamura in "Ningen jôhatsu" (1967) or Kiarostami in "Nema-ye Nazdik" (1990) – deals with this: the life of a young girl, and thus the film we see, is shaped by the stories that people believe and insist on putting on her shoulders. At first she's made a goddess, something not believed by the mother of a child. Then, because the father believes in her, their son dies, and the mother accuses her of being a demoness. The irony would be there and it would be delicious were the film not so heartbreaking.
The last shot of her running through the field is just as beautiful as the one in "City Girl" (1930).
I haven't seen nearly as much Ray as I'd have liked, but from what I've seen I can say he's beyond words brilliant. I hope this film is among the ones acquired by the Criterion Collection. It really deserves to be released in a beautiful edition to be appreciated more.
Film, as any art, is like a boat in the river of stories, through which we're steered by great masters. This is one of the strongest works I've seen in a very long time that explicitly – okay, not as explicitly as Welles in "F for Fake" (1973), Imamura in "Ningen jôhatsu" (1967) or Kiarostami in "Nema-ye Nazdik" (1990) – deals with this: the life of a young girl, and thus the film we see, is shaped by the stories that people believe and insist on putting on her shoulders. At first she's made a goddess, something not believed by the mother of a child. Then, because the father believes in her, their son dies, and the mother accuses her of being a demoness. The irony would be there and it would be delicious were the film not so heartbreaking.
The last shot of her running through the field is just as beautiful as the one in "City Girl" (1930).
I haven't seen nearly as much Ray as I'd have liked, but from what I've seen I can say he's beyond words brilliant. I hope this film is among the ones acquired by the Criterion Collection. It really deserves to be released in a beautiful edition to be appreciated more.