Teen Kanya (rewatch)
Posted by martinteller on August 30, 2009
Revisiting Ray’s trio of short Tagore adaptations. “The Postmaster” is a sublime piece of economical filmmaking that works as both a heartbreaking drama and an incisive socio-political allegory. Ray should have worked with children more often, he always got such good performances out of them, often emphasizing their tragic inability to influence their own lives. “Monihara” really drags things down, and I still think the international version (“Two Daughters”) that excises this story is a more satisfying experience, and at two hours is a good length. Adding a 50-minute ghost story about greed in the middle, especially one with such a ho-hum payoff, just sours everything. “Samapti” is a little light and simplistic (and does have, as Pauline Kael puts it, “some defects of rhythm”) but it’s one of Ray’s most charming stories. Using a swing to represent the struggle between freedom and entrapment is a device he would use much more famously in Charulata, but it’s quite poetic here as well. I also have to add that for Ray’s first attempt at scoring his own film, the music is really wonderful, especially during the final story. Rating: 8
