Our Films, Their Films

The publication of these brief, self-effacing essays by India's most celebrated filmmaker (1921-1992) coincides with the restoration and American re-release of Ray's major films. Ray discusses the rise of Indian film and its search for a style that would draw more fully upon Indian culture than upon the conventions of Western cinema; his anecdotes about the making of his own films (such as The Music Room and those of the Apu Trilogy) are disappointingly abbreviated. The book also includes gentle critiques of Visconti, Rossellini and British film (distinguished more by craft than artistry) and tributes to Renoir, Kurosawa and Chaplin. Ray puckishly confesses that, if he were stranded on a desert island, the one film he would want most to have with him would be a Marx Brothers comedy. Such glimpses at the tastes of a major filmmaker are likely to appeal most to dedicated film lovers; the general reader will find less to linger over. (Sept.)