The Sound of Old Rooms, 2011.
Directed by Sandeep Ray.
SYNOPSIS:
Filmed over 17 years, this up-close documentary takes the viewer through the life experiences of an ordinary Indian man trying to hold on to his calling of being a poet while juggling a normal life.
The most interesting thing about documentary The Sound of Old Rooms is what director Sandeep Ray tries to achieve. Filmed in three segments over 20 years (1990, 2000, 2010), you can admire what Ray was aiming for. But he just doesn’t tell a full, satisfying story.
Ray’s focus is working class Calcutta resident Sarthak and his family. Time lapsing gave the director the opportunity to explore all kinds of big themes, or the effect of time on Sarthak’s environment. Ray doesn’t take this opportunity. The Sound of Old Rooms is, regrettably, too engrossed in its main subject to make any kind of comment on generation or the passing of time.
Sarthak is concerned with politics and the big wide world, but we barely see outside of his family’s crumbling apartment building. So The Sound of Old Rooms is merely about Sarthak’s poetic aspirations, and that’s it. Faux-idealistic sentiment is Sarthak’s main concern, as he argues with anyone nearby, arguments that involve the most obvious set-ups, with lines delivered presumably as scripted.
Which isn’t to discount the rare moments of truth that Sandeep Ray uncovers; Sarthak and his wife falling out over the meaning of poetry then drunkenly making up is one nice instance of spontaneity. But Sound doesn’t make much of a case for its subject focus. Sarthak’s actually a bit of an ass, a self-conscious intellectual acting superior towards others while expecting success to land at his feet.
That the film portrays him as a tortured artist is the least agreeable thing. Made in modest conditions, Sound’s subject is anything but. The film is also too confused in its editing, its lengthy middle section taking so much focus that the 1990 and 2010 segments feel like pointless bookends. You can admire Sandeep Ray for what he intended to do, but not his execution.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published April 23, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
