THE APU TRILOGY
India
1955-1959
Bengali
Black & White
1.37:1
Directed by Satyajit Ray
SPINE #782
Pather Panchali
1955
125 minutes
SPINE #783
Aparajito
1956
110 minutes
SPINE #784
Apur Sansar
1959
106 minutes
SPINE #785
4K UHD+Blu-ray
BLU-RAY
DVD
JANUARY 2, 2024
A breathtaking milestone that brought India into the golden age of international art-house film, Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy follows one indelible character, a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and, finally, a sensitive man of the world. Ray’s delicate masterworks—Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)—based on two books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee, were shot over the course of five years, and each stands on its own as a tender, visually radiant journey. These films—which have risen from the ashes in meticulously reconstructed restorations, after the original negatives were burned in a fire—are among the most achingly beautiful, richly humane movies ever made.
Special Features
- 4K digital restorations of all three films, undertaken in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and L’Immagine Ritrovata, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions
- In the 4K UHD edition: Three 4K UHD discs of the films and three Blu-rays with the films and special features
- Audio recordings from 1958 of director Satyajit Ray reading his essay “A Long Time on the Little Road” and in conversation with film historian Gideon Bachmann
- Interviews with actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Shampa Srivastava, and Sharmila Tagore; camera assistant Soumendu Roy; and film writer Ujjal Chakraborty
- Making “The Apu Trilogy”: Satyajit Ray’s Epic Debut, a video essay by Ray biographer Andrew Robinson
- “The Apu Trilogy”: A Closer Look, a program featuring filmmaker, producer, and teacher Mamoun Hassan
- Excerpts from the 2003 documentary The Song of the Little Road, featuring composer Ravi Shankar
- The Creative Person: “Satyajit Ray,” a 1967 documentary short by James Beveridge, featuring interviews with Ray, several of his actors, members of his creative team, and film critic Chidananda Das Gupta
- Footage of Ray receiving an honorary Oscar in 1992
- Programs on the restorations by filmmaker Kogonada
- PLUS: Essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Girish Shambu, as well as a selection of Ray’s storyboards for Pather Panchali
Cover by F. Ron Miller
BLOOD SIMPLE
United States
1984
95 minutes
Color
1.85:1
English
Directed by Joel Coen
SPINE #834
4K UHD+Blu-ray
BLU-RAY
DVD
JANUARY 9, 2024
Joel and Ethan Coen’s career-long darkly comic road trip through misfit America began with this razor-sharp, hard-boiled neonoir set somewhere in Texas, where a sleazy bar owner releases a torrent of violence with one murderous thought. Actor M. Emmet Walsh looms over the proceedings as a slippery private eye with a yellow suit, a cowboy hat, and no moral compass, and Frances McDormand’s cunning debut performance set her on the road to stardom. The tight scripting and inventive style that have marked the Coens’ work for decades are all here in their first film, in which cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld abandons black-and-white chiaroscuro for neon signs and jukebox colors that combine with Carter Burwell’s haunting score to lurid and thrilling effect. Blending elements from pulp fiction and low-budget horror flicks, Blood Simple reinvented the film noir for a new generation, marking the arrival of a filmmaking ensemble that would transform the American independent cinema scene.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- Restored 4K digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Conversation between Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the film’s look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations
- Conversation between author Dave Eggers and the Coens about the film’s production, from inception to release
- Interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound editor Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich
Cover by Michael Boland
Lone Star
United States
1996
135 minutes
Color
2.39:1
English, Spanish
Directed by John Sayles
SPINE #1202
4K UHD+Blu-ray
Blu-ray