The only Satyajit Ray films I'd seen before watching The Music Room were the three that make up The Apu Trilogy. He's a well-respected filmmaker, and I generally liked that trilogy, so thought it'd be worth seeing a little more from him.
I guess The Music Room feels very simple, telling a story about one guy who has an obsession with music, and it ends up affecting his life. It looks at some issues around class and fitting in with society and all that - maybe a good deal of it went over my head, but it all felt like that was much of the film, and then many other scenes seemed there to celebrate certain songs and dance numbers. It's not quite a musical, but much of the film is about music, sort of in a way that felt disconnected from the rest of the story, at least to me.
I was glad to give it a shot, though, even if the relative barebones feel of it all made me realize I must be missing something. The dramatic elements and the music parts are both good, but I was at a loss trying to figure out how they coherently meshed into one movie.
Everything looked very good, at least - it's quite a beautiful film, thanks to where everything's set (not sure what was a set and what wasn't), and the visual style's strong. Also a lot of mirrors - that plus the story of a man being the reason for his own downfall made me think of Citizen Kane a little, but other than those two things, I think it would be a stretch to compare The Music Room to that film.
I guess The Music Room feels very simple, telling a story about one guy who has an obsession with music, and it ends up affecting his life. It looks at some issues around class and fitting in with society and all that - maybe a good deal of it went over my head, but it all felt like that was much of the film, and then many other scenes seemed there to celebrate certain songs and dance numbers. It's not quite a musical, but much of the film is about music, sort of in a way that felt disconnected from the rest of the story, at least to me.
I was glad to give it a shot, though, even if the relative barebones feel of it all made me realize I must be missing something. The dramatic elements and the music parts are both good, but I was at a loss trying to figure out how they coherently meshed into one movie.
Everything looked very good, at least - it's quite a beautiful film, thanks to where everything's set (not sure what was a set and what wasn't), and the visual style's strong. Also a lot of mirrors - that plus the story of a man being the reason for his own downfall made me think of Citizen Kane a little, but other than those two things, I think it would be a stretch to compare The Music Room to that film.