Mahanagar (The Big City)
Dir: Satyajit Ray
1963
*****
Mahanagar is probably my favorite Satyajit Ray film. It really is a slice of the times and just shows how things were changing in the world. It is an honest account of emancipation but also of a changing economic climate and a change of what was expected. Ever member of the family has a reaction to something we take for granted these days. It's part kitchen sink drama and part historical document, it's somewhere between Ozu's Late Spring and Aki Kaurismäki's Drifting Clouds. The ending is so heartwarming and so positive it really makes for a joyous conclusion.