Motivated Lighting #3: The Music Room

Cinematographer Devan Scott continues his journey through the history of lighting in cinema. This week, he credits Satyajit Ray’s director of photography Subrata Mitra for profound innovations that laid the foundation for ideas of motivated lighting that dominated the latter half of the twentieth century. Devan’s workshop (approx 50 min) will be followed by a screening of The Music Room (1958), for many critics Ray’s finest film.

About the film: The Music Room (99 min)
Satyajit Ray brilliantly evokes the crumbling opulence of the world of a fallen aristocrat (the beloved actor Chhabi Biswas) desperately clinging to a fading way of life. His greatest joy is the music room in which he has hosted lavish concerts over the years — now a shadow of its former vivid self. An incandescent depiction of the clash between tradition and modernity, and a showcase for some of India’s most popular musicians of the day, The Music Room is a defining work by the great Bengali filmmaker.

It is the kind of cinema that flows with the serenity and nobility of a big river.

Akira Kurosawa on Satyajit Ray.

Ray’s most evocative film… he fills it with observant details.

Roger Ebert