Nostalghia

1983 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

This is Tarkovsky first film made outside of the Soviet Union just before his defection to the west.

A Russian poet , accompanied by guide and translator, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th century Russian composer. In a ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in a barn to save them from the evils of the world. As the guide seeks to tempt him into infidelity, he, seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, becomes drawn to the lunatic. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for his guide and her Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.

With long lingering pans and zooms, this is typical Tarkovsky cinema. His surreal landscapes are meticuously composed and executed. Many of the techniques first seen in Stalker are honed to perfection in the gentle paced exploration of one man's quest for the unobtainable. This is a highly enjoyable visual feast.

The Mirror

1974 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

As the son of a famous Russian poet, this is a stream of consciousness overlayed by his father's poetry.

This non-linear autobiographical film is Tarkovsky's most personal meditation on time, history and the Russian countryside. Through a series of episodes and images, he captures the mood and the feeling of the period just before, during and after the war. Lyrical reminiscences of his mother and of his father's poetry figure large in the film, along with extraordinary images of nature.

Combining black-and-white and color work, with some unusual documentary footage, this highly regarded movie is structured with the logic of a dream. It's a wonderful, slow amble through someones innermost fond memories.

Stalker

1979 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

This is Tarkovsky’s seminal masterpiece loosely based on Arkady and Boris Strugatski’s science fiction novel, Roadside Picnic.

The film is based on the premise that at some point aliens visited our planet and left behind dangerous and contaminated zones. Stalkers are those that have mastered the art of navigating those zones and plundering their riches. The film deals with a writer and a professor taken into to the zone by such a stalker in search of a fabled room where their innermost wishes can be granted. It is a journey of introspection and changing motives.

This is Tarkovsky at his very best. Although the original version was completely destroyed by the developing laboratory because an experimental film stock was used, Tarkovsky set about re-filming the entire project anew making many changes along the way. He employs no special effects whatsoever relying instead on atmosphere and beautifully choreographed cinematography. A haunting soundtrack compliments the long close up tracking shots and the careful juxtapositioning of black and white and colour shots makes this a landmark film.

The Sacrifice

1986 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

This film, sadly, was Tarkovsky's last. He brings together all his legendary imagery skills in a tale of hope over desperation.

It begins in Bergmanesque fashion on a small, remote island, where friends and family gather for a birthday celebration. The revelry is interrupted by a radio announcement that World War III has begun, and Mankind is only hours away from utter annihilation. As the roar of the overhead missiles is heard, each of the guests reacts differently to the news. The most dramatic response is the host's, who promises God that he'll give up everything he holds dear if war is averted.

The Sacrifice is so dependent upon its visuals and overall mood that any attempt at a detailed synopsis would be woefully inadequate. The willingness of Tarkovsky's protagonist to fore go all his possessions may well have sprung from the cancer-ridden director's awareness that he, too, would soon be giving up everything to face his Maker. The irony of the film is that the house in question was burnt down as the final act of the film but because the shots did not come out right Tarkovsky, ever the perfectionist, rebuilt the entire structure against the clock to get the final shot as he intended. The "Making of" film is every bit as nail biting as the main event.

Solaris

1972 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem, this is Tarkovsky's famous seminal science fiction film which explores the bounderies of reality.

It centers on a widowed psychologist Kris Kelvin, who is sent to a space station orbiting a water planet called Solaris to investigate the mysterious death of a doctor, as well as the mental problems plaguing the dwindling number of cosmonauts on the station. Finding the remaining crew behaving oddly and aloof, Kelvin is more than surprised when he meets his seven-years-dead wife Khari on the station. It quickly becomes apparent that Solaris possesses something that brings out repressed memories and obsessions within the cosmonauts, leaving Kelvin to question his perception of reality. 

These concepts were pretty ground breaking in 1972, which lead to this film being compared to Stanley Kubrik's 2001. In actual fact there are very few touching points. Much as I admire Tarkovsky's work his lack of attention to detail in this film makes it very dated. In 2002 Steven Soderbergh remade the film and cast George Clooney in the lead to much greater effect.

Ivan's Childhood

1962 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

This is Andrei Tarkovsky debut film. A feature-length wartime drama and a remarkable introduction to a remarkable career. The poetic touch of Tarkovsky's hand and his measured pace is already evident as the tale of the young, twelve-year-old Ivan evolves. Ivan is orphaned after his village is wiped out by an invading Nazi army and as a consequence, he ends up in a prison camp. The inventive lad escapes and is taken under the wing of Captain Kholin, whose intention is to send the boy away to school. But Ivan is determined to help the Russian army and so he starts spying on the German forces. Because of his tender years he manages to pass freely back and forth behind enemy lines -- at least for awhile.

This is a poignant and tragic film about the loss of innocence in a vanishing generation. This exemplary film won the top prize, the Golden Lion award at the 1962 Venice Film Festival and also won the Grand Prize at the 1962 San Francisco Film Festival.