Edgy Moms will gather together on May 12 at the Old Stone House to read their manifesto and other writings about mothers and motherhood (photo courtesy OTBKB)
Who: Julia Fierro, Lisa Gornick, Stephanie Thompson, Sophia Romero, Sean Grover, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Louise Crawford
What: Tenth annual “Edgy Moms” literary gathering, presented by Brooklyn Reading Works
Where: The Old Stone House, 336 Third St. between Fourth & Fifth Aves. in Washington Park, Park Slope, 718-768-3195
When: Tuesday, May 12, $10 suggested donation, 8:00
Why: They’re not just moms — they’re moms on the edge. Well, actually, they’re Edgy Moms, and they’ll be celebrating their tenth anniversary on May 12 at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, where they will share their writings about mothers and motherhood. As always, the event, curated by Louise Crawford and Sophia Romero, will start off with a reading of the Edgy Moms Manifesto, which was written by founder and OTBKB (Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn) blogger Crawford and which explains what makes someone an Edgy Mom: “She’s feisty and fun and a little bit zany. She whines to her friends and can be a bit of a martyr. She fantasizes about taking long trips without her children, and getting a room of her own on Block Island with a computer and a view of the sea. She lets her kids have dessert before dinner, reheated pizza for breakfast. . . . She’s afraid she’s ruined her kids somehow. That everything is her fault. If only she’d followed those expert books. Or even read them. . . .” Among the patron saintesses of Edgy Moms are Lucille Ball, Melissa Etheridge, the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Lenore Skenazy, Maya Angelou, and Marge Simpson. Happy Mother’s Day to all!
A groundbreaking work in the history of world cinema, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali and its two sequels, Aparajito and Apur Sansar, have been meticulously restored by the Criterion Collection and the Academy Film Archive following a nitrate fire in 1993 — the year after Ray was awarded an honorary Oscar on his deathbed — and now are being shown together as “The Apu Trilogy,” running May 8-28 at Film Forum. Inspired by a meeting with Jean Renoir in Kolkata, where Renoir was shooting The River, and watching ninety-nine films in six months while working as a graphic designer for an advertising agency in London, Ray decided to make his first film, adapting Bibhutibhushan Banerjee’s 1929 novel, which he knew well; Ray had contributed illustrations to a later edition of the book. The film took nearly five years to make as Ray faced repeated financing problems, such delays as cattle eating flowers that were needed for an important scene, and a cast and crew primarily of nonprofessionals. Despite all those issues, Pather Panchali is a stunning masterpiece, a bittersweet and captivating tale of a rural family mired in poverty, struggling to survive in extremely hard times. In a small village, Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee) is raising her daughter, Durga (Runki Banerjee), a rambunctious teen, and son, Apu (Subir Banerjee), while her husband, dreamer Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), a wannabe playwright and poet, goes off for months at a time, trying to find work in the city. (The actors shared a common surname but were not related in real life.) Sarbajaya is also caring for their elderly cousin, “Auntie” Indir (retired theater actress Chunibala Devi), who walks very slowly, hunched over and with impossibly leathery skin. The family goes about its business from day to day, as the kids play with friends, figure out how they can get something from the sweets man, and hang out with Auntie, who offers a fresh perspective on life. Sarbajaya is embarrassed that she cannot pay back several rupees she owes her relatively wealthy neighbor, who owns an orchard from which Durga steals fruit. It’s a meager existence, but it avoids being completely dark and bleak because of Auntie’s sense of humor and Apu’s wide-eyed innocence. The film is told from his point of view — in fact, the first time we see him, he is lying down, covered, and one of his eyes pops open, dominating the screen. It’s a difficult, challenging life, but there’s always hope.
