British distributors Artificial Eye have informed us that they are planning to add six titles to their Blu-ray catalog in August: legendary Indian director Satyajit Ray's
Charulata: The Lonely Wife (1964),
Mahapurush: The Holy Man (1965), and
Kapurush: The Coward (1965), French director Olivier Assayas'
Apres Mai a.k.a
Something in the Air (2012), and Canadian director Atom Egoyan's
Calendar (1993) and
Exotica (1994).
Charulata: The Lonely Wife
Cited by Ray as one of his best films, this tale of a neglected housewife in Victorian-era Calcutta is adapted from a story by Rabindranath Tagore. Sailen Mukherjee stars as a newspaper journalist who is driven more by professional ambition than the needs of his cultured and intelligent wife Charaulata (Madhabi Mukherjee). Sensing her loneliness, he enlists the help of his cousin Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), a sensitive would-be writer, to keep her company. Charu and Amal hit it off and, almost inevitably, their feelings for each other begin to deepen...
Mahapurush: The Holy Man
Ray's rarely-seen gem is a comedy-drama in which a gullible and religiously devout retiree is completely taken in by a bogus holy man and enlists the charlatan's help in finding his daughter a husband. But she is being courted by a young man who determines to expose the fraudster.
Kapurush: The Coward
Stranded in a small town, screenwriter Amitabha Roy (Soumitra Chatterjee) is astonished to encounter a former lover (Madhabi Mukherjee) now married to the owner of a tea plantation. Recalling his inability to commit to her and the relationship's resultant breakdown, Roy decides to make amends for the past.
Something in the Air
Paris in the early 70′s. Gilles, a young high school student, is taken in by the political and creative turmoil of the times. Much like his friends, he is torn between his radical commitment and his personal ambitions. Through romantic encounters and artistic discoveries, Gilles and his friends' journeys take them to Italy and then London. Further down the line, they will have to make definitive choices in order to find their place in these turbulent times.
Calendar
A photographer and his wife take photographs of Armenian churches for use in a calendar. Their driver, a local resident, expounds on the history of the churches while the wife translates. The photographer becomes jealous of his wife's bonding with the driver. In a series of flash-forwards, the photographer stages identical dinners with several women, who pretend to talk on the phone while he writes. His wife, now estranged from him, leaves repeated messages on his answering machine, asking why he never contacts her. Yet another thought-provoking look into strange, intertwined relationships from the always enigmatic Egoyan.
Exotica
At a sexy strip club called Exotica, three strangers - an obsessive man, an erotic table dancer and the club's mysterious D.J. - share much more than is apparent at first glance. As their secret passions grow, they become more deeply entangled in an inescapable web of jealousy, deceit and revenge.