Cinematheque (evocation)

Good Afternoon, my Baby,

I'm writing from Pearl's, just to say hi. How's school going so far? Good, I trust. I am cooking some black beans, which will be part of a salad later on. Tonight starts the Thursday Night Movies at the CSUN Cinematheque, so I will be home at the usual time, about 9:45 to 10pm. I think I mentioned that this semester we are doing the Indian director Satyajit Ray. Tonight, his first film : "Pather Panchali". I've seen it before, it's part one of Ray's "Apu Trilogy", named after a child character in the films. "Pather Panchali" made a big splash when it was released in the 50s, and it's a really good movie, about a poor family in India.

I hope you are having a nice evening, and I will be back after the movie (and here at Pearl's until 6:30).

I Love You.     xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

10:55pm : The program ran long, cause the Professor showed two Ray documentaries before the feature, so we were at the theater till a little after 10. Now that I've seen that film twice, though, it really is great. These types of foreign art films are not like what we are used to in today's cinema, mainly the pacing is slower and often there is little to no plot, but there is a story, and it is told simply in cinematic terms - the imagery and sound, and in this case the music is just as important as the dialogue. You know when you go out to take photos, and you get something in your viewfinder that instantly resonates with you? You can feel it when that happens, and it doesn't have to be any particular object. Just an image that makes you feel excited because it moves you and you are about to capture it.

That's what pure cinema is about. In this movie, director Ray captures all kinds of magical images, and in this case they are part of a story, so it's not abstract, but what happens is that you watch..........and then the power of all those images and scenes add up, and when the film is over, it really stays with you. Ray had never directed a film before, and had never even worked in the movie business, but he had been a fan of European and Hollywood films in the 1940s, and that demonstrates the power of observation as a catalyst for one's own creative inspiration.

Again, you have to have patience for these films, because we are used to the continuous excitement of most of today's movies. The difference, I find, is in the repeat viewings. The art films are often based on a feeling, something the director wishes to evoke (and oftentimes, I think, he or she may not even know what it is), and so, the totality of such a film is never revealed. There are so many subtleties, which is why such films stick in the mind and heart and pay off through repeat viewings.

I hope you had a great day. Sweet Dreams.    xoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

I Love You.