Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by centurymantra (A) on November 20, 2002 at 09:16:57

In Reply to: stalker posted by fredgarvin on November 07, 2002 at 15:00:15:

Awhile back I was inspired to write a review for 'Stalker' on IMDB.com after re-viewing the film. I've pasted in a copy here if anyone feels so inclined to read it over.

(There's a fairly excellent British website called the Jigsaw Lounge with a nice section devoted to Tarkovsky that's also well worth checking out. You can access this at www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/tarkovskylounge.html )

Here's what I wrote...

*Poetry...? Alchemy...? Or something else?*

This film seems to occupy a realm of perception akin to that of the prismatic reflection of light cast across your kitchen counter as the sun plays through it; or that of the whispering angular shadow of a swaying tree outside your window, beamed onto your ceiling & slowly drifting across the room with the track of the sun. Both are singular phenomena and abstractions of light which one can embrace and perhaps even acheive some level of revelation through if the mind is allowed to 'lose the moment' as it were and embrace the uncommon beauty and inexplicable strangeness that such a simple event can generate. Just as easily, one can simply cast it aside; leave it unnoticed and nothing more than a wisp of light at the peripheral edge of vision. Stalker is, as well, one of these "abstractions of light", a flickering presence on the screen open to interpretation. One that may be fully absorbed and taken to heart as an illumination of the soul or brushed aside as nothing more than a faceless and futile attempt at 'nothingness'. Perhaps one may find their focus drifting in such a way that only a few fragments may be fully digested, comprehended and sifted through the back door of the intellect; vague impressions of no particular form or figure. Perhaps one could watch (and re-watch) this film and adopt all of the above viewpoints. Stalker is "that kind" of a film and one which is bound to polarize viewers. Unquestionably slow and brooding, yet uncommonly strange and beautiful by turns. It's meaning is shrouded and the ultimate resolution is tied up in metaphysical abstractions whose meanings are not entirely clear. One of the most impressive aspects of the film (and much of Tarkovsky's work) is it's ability to render the simplest images in a manner that transforms them into poetic distillations of a very high order. Tarkovsky is truly a visual alchemist of the highest order, as this film will certainly attest. Watch this film, take it for what it is, and leave with whatever impression and/or opinions you see fit. You may find yourself thoroughly bored or completely enthralled, but there is one thing that is certain. Whether you know it or not, a transformation of some order will have taken place. As the alchemists of yore would tell you, though the transformation of lead to gold may seem an utterly futile, unrewarding and ultimately impossible task, it is the transformation of the self during this process that really counts.


Bryan K.,
Music Lover & President-elect of C.C.A.C. (Concerned Citizens Against Cilantro)