Have just come off two of the intensest writing months I've had in the past 5-6 years. Lots of multi-tasking (not something I'm adept at), two separate 4,000-word pieces involving Satyajit Ray (for different publications, of course), another much longer piece that I somehow completed in a six-day frenzy (having first taken a week to transcribe notes that added up to well over 30,000 words), plus of course the knickknacks – reviews, columns etc – that keep getting posted here. (Note: you know things have changed from five years ago when you start thinking of a 1,000-word review that takes hours to write as a “knickknack”.)
Anyway, this has been a convoluted way of justifying my latest extravagance: 690 minutes of Stan Brakhage films, as presented by Criterion:
Got the DVDs today through my kind-hearted friend Tipu; have seen only a few of the 56 films on these discs before, so there's plenty to discover. (Other Criterions bought include Science is Fiction, Kiss me Deadly and a great-looking two-disc set of Sweet Smell of Success, but more on those another time.) Any Brakhage aficionados around, please check the lists here and here and let me know if that seems like a good order in which to see the films, or if it should be done in another way.
Anyway, this has been a convoluted way of justifying my latest extravagance: 690 minutes of Stan Brakhage films, as presented by Criterion:
Got the DVDs today through my kind-hearted friend Tipu; have seen only a few of the 56 films on these discs before, so there's plenty to discover. (Other Criterions bought include Science is Fiction, Kiss me Deadly and a great-looking two-disc set of Sweet Smell of Success, but more on those another time.) Any Brakhage aficionados around, please check the lists here and here and let me know if that seems like a good order in which to see the films, or if it should be done in another way.
what is the genre of his film-making? documentaries?
ReplyDeleteAbhimanyu: no one genre as such - mainly non-narrative. You can read about his work on the links provided.
ReplyDeleteI was keen on knowing when and where can we read the pieces on Ray. Can you let us know, please?
ReplyDeletePartho: I'll put at least one of the pieces up here when it's published - that won't be for another month at least. (Be warned though that if you're a Bengali who grew up with Ray's cinema and reputation, the piece might seem quite basic.)
ReplyDeleteWell, i have kind of grown up with Ray's cinema and have extensively read his own writings on cinema including the Bangla works. But I still I enjoy any new writing on him :)There is always a new perspective.
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