Dipankar Dey receives a letter from her long lost uncle, Utpal Dutt, whom she barely remembers from when she was a little girl. He has been traveling the world since then, is in Bengal, and hopes he will get some old-fashioned hospitality from her. Her husband is suspicious, and locks up his precious art before the old man appears. When he shows up, he's an interesting set of contradictions, offering his nephew-in-law his passport and telling him how easy they are to forge, charming his great-nephew and friends, wrangling with the family friends who hope to help the family figure out who he is and what he is there for.
Satyajit Ray's last movie explores some of his long-standing obsessions, with the issues of what is civilization, what is science ad why we do what we do. The pacing is surprisingly erratic, making me wonder if that is deliberate or a sign of Ray's failing powers (he died the following year) or an expression of the way people reveal themselves to each other, a combination of calculation and sentiment.
Satyajit Ray's last movie explores some of his long-standing obsessions, with the issues of what is civilization, what is science ad why we do what we do. The pacing is surprisingly erratic, making me wonder if that is deliberate or a sign of Ray's failing powers (he died the following year) or an expression of the way people reveal themselves to each other, a combination of calculation and sentiment.